Dealing with Households

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Sites generate a lot of records, such as leasing records, maintenance records, security deposit records, incident reports, and so on. Because these records take up space in leasing or management offices, most staff members want to get rid of them as soon as possible. But these records can help you if you ever need to defend yourself in a lawsuit. They can also help you to bring a lawsuit against someone—for example, a resident who leaves owing you money.

It’s hard to enforce all the lease provisions residents must comply with, such as bans on pets and home businesses. At some point, you may overlook a resident’s violation of a lease provision for several months. But if you ignore the violation for too long, you may lose your right to insist that the resident comply with the provision. In legal terms, ignoring the violation for too long may constitute a “waiver.”

One of the toughest situations you can face is when a household withholds rent over a claimed problem in a unit. Sometimes the problem is something major, such as no heat or hot water for an extended time. Other times the problem is something minor, such as a broken dishwasher. And still other times, there’s no problem, but the household claims that there is one as an excuse not to pay rent.

Concerns over property damage and dog bite injuries may lead some owners to ban pets from a site altogether. Yet some residents may keep pets despite the ban. If you find that a resident has a pet, how you address this lease violation can determine whether you’ll be held liable if the pet injures someone. In a typical lawsuit involving a resident’s pet—called a “premises liability” lawsuit—the owner is sued because the resident’s pet attacked an individual.

Many state housing finance agencies are adding energy assessment and conservation measures to their Qualified Allocation Plans (QAPs) that encourage owners and managers to take steps to reduce their site’s energy and water usage and to engage and educate residents in making the site a greener, more sustainable place to live.

Getting departing residents to pay their final month’s rent can be difficult. Many residents think it’s fine to tell owners to apply their security deposit to their final month’s rent.

Many units, especially older ones, aren’t set up to handle washing machines, dryers, and other large appliances. But even if your units don’t have hookups or the capacity to handle these appliances, some residents may still bring in portable units and connect them to the electrical outlets and plumbing fixtures. These machines can cause power failures, sewage backups, floods, and hot- and cold-water surges that can affect other residents at your tax credit site. They can also run up your water and electricity bills if you pay for residents’ utilities yourself.

As summer approaches and temperatures begin to rise, residents and their guests may be tempted to go up on the roof and sunbathe, barbecue, or just cool off from their hot units. Unfortunately, allowing people on the roofs of your site’s buildings can cause you many problems. For example, if a resident gets seriously injured or causes costly property damage, a court may rule that you’re liable for the injuries or damage because you let residents and guests use the roof.

At some point, you’re going to have to notify households that you’re raising their rent. Reasons for raising the rent on a low-income unit can include a utility allowance decrease, an over-income household, a change in your area’s median gross income, or, if the rent is below the maximum allowable limit, a decision to raise it. But it’s ill-advised to just slip the rent increase into a household’s next rent statement. 

At the beginning of every winter season, many site managers begin to worry about the possibility of being hit with slip-and-fall lawsuits filed by residents or guests. Although it’s inevitable that accidents will occur, the management can try to make the site as safe as possible for residents and consequently avoid liability for any slip-and-fall accidents.