Landlord allows family to stay in house for free amid coronavirus struggles

WESTWOOD, Ohio — An Ohio family is thankful for their landlord who has shown care and generosity in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Wes Moberly lives with his fiance and their twin 5-year-old daughters.

Ellery Lewis, the landlord who owns the home the family lives in, said he wasn’t sure what caused the family to miss two rent payments.

“They always pay their rent on time. They paid in May, and then June came and then July, and I had not heard from them,” Lewis told WKRC-TV.

Lewis went to the home to check on Moberly and make sure everything was OK.

That’s when he found out Moberly was laid off from his IT job 10 weeks ago and didn’t have the money to pay rent. He and his fiance had been living off their dwindling savings to pay for food and other necessities for their daughters.

“I’m worried about borrowing money from people to get my phone line turned back on, worrying about when my internet is going to get disconnected because then I can’t even do freelance work, or, if I get a job, I won’t be able to do that,” Moberly told WKRC-TV.

When Lewis found out about Moberly’s situation, he not only allowed them to stay in the house, he also gifted the family with $100.

“He has two daughters. I happen to have two daughters as well. So I put myself in his shoes, and if I was in his shoes, I would want someone to do the same for me,” Lewis said.

The favor couldn’t have come at a better time for Moberly.

“He gave us $100 because I told him, like, our phone line had been turned off and we had $0 left at that point,” he said. “The other big thing was, like, do we have a place to live? And now that we don’t have to worry about that for the time being, that’s just a mountain of stress off my shoulders.”

Lewis owns a number of other properties and said other families have had trouble paying the rent too. He’s creating payment plans for those who are struggling due to coronavirus-related hardships.

“Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you,” he said.

Cox Media Group