A group of landlords is suing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over a new disclosure rule that aims to inform tenants of their protections from eviction during the COVID-19 outbreak, claiming that the rule violates the landlords’ First Amendment rights by requiring them to lie.

The CFPB’s new interim final rule, effective Monday, requires that debt collectors and attorneys working for landlords provide “clear and conspicuous” written notice to tenants about their eviction protections under a September 2020 moratorium on evictions ordered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But attorneys for the New Civil Liberties Alliance argued in a lawsuit filed Monday that the CFPB’s interim final rule induces “false speech,” disregards prior cases that found the CDC moratorium invalid and that the moratorium is no longer needed as vaccinations increase and pandemic conditions improve.

Read the full article