“Landlords should be able to take a little less, and there should be forbearance until tenants get their jobs back,” said Judith Goldiner, head of the Legal Aid Society’s civil law reform unit. “If people can pay, they should.”

Lauren, an actor and teacher who rents an apartment in the Ocean Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, said she worked out a payment plan with her landlord for April rent. She will pay $500 of her $2,400 rent due on Wednesday and then at least $200 in May, she said.

“If New York is on pause, our rent must be too,” Lauren, who agreed to share her story only if her surname was withheld, wrote in an email. “I’m one of the lucky ones, with (tenuous) employment and an understanding landlord, and I am still struggling to find a way forward.”

How big of a problem will this be?

The current economic crisis has all the ingredients to cause a collapse in the New York City real estate market, said Joseph Strasburg, the president of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 landlords in New York City.

A significant drop in April rent payments would create an immediate domino effect and leave many landlords without enough money to pay their water and sewer bills for their properties, he said.

Rent payments could drop even more drastically in May, Mr. Strasburg said, when tenants who lost jobs in March may have even less money to pay that month’s rent.

The largest annual bill for most property owners, real estate taxes, is due July 1. And property taxes make up about 30 percent of New York City’s revenue, which helps pay for basic city services.