Compliance
August 15, 2012
Assisted sites can amass a lot of legal expenses for site-related matters like evicting problem residents or drafting letters to comply with certain HUD rules. You can charge site-related legal expenses to your site's operating accounts, but only if you comply with HUD's rules on handling...
The Trainer
August 15, 2012
REVIEWING CONTRACTORS' BILLS; AVOIDING INELIGIBLE LEGAL CHARGES
In this month’s feature, we discussed how to avoid audit trouble by spotting and correcting overbilling errors in contractors’ invoices. If you don’t review these invoices, you could unknowingly pay more for items...
Recent Court Rulings
August 15, 2012
Facts: An occupant sued the local PHA for discrimination for failure to lease him the unit in which he claimed he had resided with his mother before her death.
As a child, the occupant moved with his mother and her husband into the unit. But records show that he moved out of the unit in 1976. His...
Recent Court Rulings
August 15, 2012
Facts: A PHA filed an eviction lawsuit against a resident based on drug-related criminal activity and an altercation with a neighbor that disturbed other neighbors.
The resident was arrested for driving under the influence of psychotropic medication in August 2011. A year earlier, in September 2010...
Recent Court Rulings
August 15, 2012
Facts: The lease between an owner and a Section 8 resident included an addendum providing that "[t]he owner shall not terminate the lease except for ... [m]aterial noncompliance with the lease." The addendum further specified that before terminating the lease, the owner must give the...
Feature
July 29, 2012
Going to court with a resident can be an expensive proposition—even if you win. You may win $1,000 in back rent, but that's not a meaningful victory if you have to pay your attorney a few thousand dollars to win it for you. And without a lease clause requiring residents who violate their...
Dealing with Households
July 29, 2012
Dealing with domestic violence is one of the trickiest problems site managers face. You may have observed domestic violence first hand, responded to noise complaints from neighbors, have the police called to your site, been asked to terminate a lease against a resident's abusive spouse, or been...
Compliance
July 29, 2012
In last month's issue of the Insider, we told you of HUD's efforts to clamp down on excessive pay at public housing authorities by setting caps that extend and expand limits imposed by Congress. With increased HUD attention on salaries, this may be a good time for owners and managers to go...
Recent Court Rulings
July 28, 2012
Facts: In March 2010, an applicant applied to a PHA for admission into the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. The PHA denied her application based on the results of her criminal background check, indicating that she didn't provide evidence of rehabilitation, and because, at the time of...
Recent Court Rulings
July 28, 2012
Facts: An elderly resident in a federally assisted housing complex sued the local housing authority, the city's mayor, and the local council government for alleged criminal activity targeted at elderly residents at her site.
