BUFFALO, N.Y. — 78-year-old Donna Szucs says she has lost thousands in unpaid rent from the tenant of a home she owns in Wyoming County.

"It's very frustrating because I have to provide him with water, heat, and everything else even though he pays me nothing," Szucs said.

Szucs has no legal recourse. The New York State moratorium on rent, aimed at helping those who lost jobs due to the pandemic, allows for people to miss rent payments and not face eviction. For Szucs, that's meant almost 12 months of lost wages.

Attorney Philip Meyer of The Meyer Law Firm says it's an issue many landlords are facing right now.

"It's really been the same story since March, there is very little that you can do," Meyer said.

Meyer, who has been handling eviction-related cases, says the state's mandate prevents eviction due to unpaid rent. Meyer believes many renters do not realize they will have to pay back every month of rent they may be getting a pass on right now.

"What they're going to find is they have a ton of back rent for many months," Meyer said.

That's expected to create a difficult time whenever the mandate expires, especially for the most common form of a landlord.

"The overwhelming amount of landlords here are mom and pops who have one building," Meyer said.

Landlords like Donna Szucs, who is just hoping the moratorium ends in May and is not extended once again.

"I hope it is lifted in May but I have wished for that so many times and each time they've moved it," Szucs said.

This story was first published by Jeff Slawson at WKBW in Buffalo, New York.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) -- First-time grandmother Pat Gray will never forget meeting her granddaughter, Maeve. Maeve was born in March of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic closed down New York and most of the world. For safety reasons, Pat and her daughter Shelbey Timmons decided grandmother and granddaughter should meet through a glass door.

"I just - my heart just melted. I saw this little baby, and I saw my daughter, we were both in tears," Pat recalls.

Shelbey's husband captured photos of their meeting, which were shared hundreds of times last March when they were posted by 7 Eyewitness News. At a time when the community was still struggling to fully understand the COVID-19 pandemic, the photos resonated with so many.

"It was like one of the saddest, happiest days of my life," said Pat. "I was so sad I couldn't hold her and touch her, but I was just so happy that she was here. And she was healthy."

It wasn't the way the two were supposed to meet. Pat planned to be with Shelbey at the hospital, but Maeve's March 16th birthday came right at the time everything started locking down.

"It was like 24 hours - everything just flipped!" recalled Shelbey.

So the family connected virtually at first through Facetime.

"She said do you want to meet your new grandchild? And I just burst into tears, and there were people around me in the office and I was holding my phone - and everybody was like - let me see!" Pat laughed.

When it came time to meet in-person, the mother and grandmother decided it would be safest through the glass. It wasn't an easy decision for the family, but they say it was the right one.

"When you have a baby, who do you want? You want your mom. And I'm on one side of the glass and they're on the other - and it was just heartbreaking. But knowing that they were safe and healthy was all I cared about," said Pat.

About six weeks later, Pat was finally able to hold Maeve. Now, more than a year later, she's able to visit as often as she wants. She says while it's been a difficult year, her first grandchild has been the light at the end of the tunnel.

"It just - the whole pandemic - this has made it bearable. Every time I see her I fall in love all over again. It's like the first time I saw her - every time I saw her."

This story originally reported by Katie Morse on WKBW.com.