Section 8 Housing Overview
Section 8 is a tenant-based subsidy program that provides rental assistance to low-income individuals and families. The program is controlled by the Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") and administered by local public housing authorities (PHAs) to whom HUD provides funding to carry out the program. Tenants obtain referrals that allow them to search for private-sector housing that meets certain criteria, including rent restrictions . The program covers both project-based assistance – in which HUD funds are disbursed directly to landlords as a subsidy for each rented unit – and the more common tenant-based assistance – in which HUD gives a subsidy to a PHA, which is then transferred to eligible tenants. Eligible tenants fetch vouchers for this type of assistance through intake procedures administered by the PHA.
Grounds for Eviction
There are a number of different legal grounds to evict a tenant from Section 8 housing. You can evict a tenant if they violate the lease agreement or violate a federal, state or local law. If you own federally assisted housing, then you must wait until you get approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) before terminating a tenancy under certain circumstances (mostly if a tenant is in good standing with their rent). You should also comply with state requirements before evicting the tenant from the rental unit.
When the tenant violates the lease, you should give a notice to terminate the tenancy. You are required to give notice to the tenant in accordance with the lease agreement, HUD regulations and state law. Sometimes, however, you need the right to give a specified notice to vacate even after the lease term has expired. For example, a breach of lease can be drug abuse or criminal activity, repeated lease violations and other situations as described by the lease agreement. Some states allow you to give the tenant only 5 or 14 day notice to comply or quit after a tenant breaches the lease.
A tenant can be evicted if they don’t pay their share of the rent allocation, fail to provide you with access or fail to comply with obligations imposed by federal, state and local law. You should give notice to the tenant in accordance with the lease agreement, HUD regulations and state law.
A lease can be terminated at the end date stated in the lease or the landlord can choose to not renew the lease. In this situation, you can give the tenant a thirty day written notice to move. This type of eviction does not require you to provide a reason to terminate the tenancy. You may also need to attempt alternative dispute resolution methods before you can evict the tenant.
Notice Requirements
As with all evictions, proper notice to the tenant is essential for compliance with both the lease and state law. With a Section 8 tenant, however, notice requirements become much more stringent. Once a Section 8 tenant considers her rental assistance terminated, that tenant has the right to continue occupying her unit for a period of up to 90 days (also known as the Family Unification Period). As explained further below, the specific time frames vary based on the basis of the eviction.
There are two types of notices required for a Section 8 eviction proceeding: Tenant Based Assistance Termination Letter and Eviction Notice. While the Family Unification Period gives the tenant additional time in which to remain in the unit during the eviction process, landlords cannot afford to overlook the fact that a landlord’s failure to provide the proper notice can outright frustrate an eviction proceeding. Therefore, landlords must consult with their attorneys to determine the specific notice requirements for their tenancy.
If the lease has expired:
A Family Unification Period does not apply if the tenant or the tenant’s family member’s criminal activity was a threat to the health or safety of other tenants; shown by the lease expiring. The landlord must terminate a tenant’s lease with due cause, based on any of the following:
If the lease has not expired:
The landlord can terminate the lease based on the basis of failure to pay rent or a lease violation. To terminate the lease, the landlord must provide written notice to the tenant 30 or more calendar days before the next applicable rental due date.
Some of these notice requirements are more stringent in the City of Los Angeles. Prior to modifying or terminating the lease, Landlords who rent units in the City of Los Angeles may be required to give advance written notice to the tenant of intent to terminate a tenant’s tenancy.
Tenant Rights and Protections
Section 8 tenants in Chicago have certain safety nets in place when faced with eviction actions. For example, the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, or RLTO, protects Section 8 tenants from being evicted for causing damage to the rental property, violating the lease agreement, failing to pay rent or for refusing to renew the lease. To evict a Section 8 tenant, landlords must still comply with all rules and regulations laid out in the RLTO. Since Section 8 tenants have different rights than other tenants, they enjoy additional protection from being evicted even if they fail to pay their portion of the rent. If a Section 8 tenant has been evicted, the new landlord must accept any remaining Section 8 vouchers that are in place, and a landlord cannot accept any tenant application who has Section 8 housing vouchers if their application was rejected by a previous landlord because they had Section 8 vouchers. Tenants cannot be denied housing based on their source of income, nor can they be evicted for harassment or for claiming their housing rights.
Eviction Process
There are a myriad of reasons that a landlord may have for wanting to file a traditional eviction complaint against a Section 8 tenant. Regardless of the reason, a landlord must be sure to follow the correct procedure for evicting a tenant that is receiving a Section 8 subsidy and/or has a Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract in place. If the statutory requirements are not followed in their entirety, an eviction can easily be dismissed by the court with or without prejudice.
There is no other way to evict someone that is receiving a Section 8 subsidy than by complying with the Housing Authority guidelines as well as the New Jersey anti-eviction laws. Although the requirements may seem extensive, it is fairly easy to comply with the process once you know what you need to do.
The process begins with the landlord or the Housing Authority learning that a tenant did not pay their portion of rent. Landlords who are participating in the program receive a monthly rental check from the Housing Authority and a monthly rental payment from their tenant. An eviction begins so long as either one of the following occurs:
From this point forward in the eviction process, the landlord must follow the anti-eviction statute. The process requires a 30 day rent demand be sent in writing and in the manner required by the statute. In addition to the rent demand, the landlord must also send a notice to cure or quit to the tenant advising them of the breach and that they have 30 days to cure the breach. If the problem is not cured to the satisfaction of the landlord , then a notice of intention to terminate the tenancy can be sent to the tenant. After the expiration of ten days, the landlord may commence the eviction by filing a complaint in the local Special Civil Part in addition to filing a statement of facts. It is very important to make sure that the paperwork is filled out accurately and is specific to each particular case. Each mistake could result in an eviction being dismissed by the court and/or an award of damages payable to the tenant.
After the paperwork is filled out properly by the landlord and filed with the court, the Court Clerk will provide the landlord with a Notice of Trial or a hearing for the matter. On this date, both the landlord and the tenant will go before the judge and try to resolve the dispute. If the tenant appears, the judge will ask if they agree that the rent is owed and if they do agree, the Court will enter judgment against them. If the tenant is in agreement, a monetary judgment for the total amount of rent owed will be entered against the tenant and the landlord will be able to proceed with a warrant for possession. If the tenant is not in agreement that the rent is owed, the Housing Authority will testify as to whether rent is owed and if they testify that funds are owed to the landlord, a judgment will be entered against the tenant.
After the judgment is entered, a warrant for possession can be obtained by the landlord. In less than two months, a landlord that has been following the above process can close on a tenant with the help of the Court system.
How to Prevent Eviction
Almost all of Westlake Village real estate property is subject to eviction under the rules established under Section 8. This can often be a shock to most tenants who recently learned that they were selected. The most important thing is that tenants try to prevent eviction from happening. The first possible move is that tenants are able to pay the outstanding debt owed, meaning the rent. It is always a good idea to do so as soon as humanly possible. This way, they are able to keep their Section 8 nor walk in accordance with the policy of those module.
There is a possibility that if you pay late, that the landlord does not have to issue a notice of termination. However, this is something that is not dictated by any affected policy. Therefore, it may be a good idea to issue the document which documents a late payment, so long as the tenant pays it, sometimes it will mitigate the risk of termination. The next step is to make sure this is not a repeat problem. It may be necessary to cut back on expenses, or figure out a way to make more money. Either way, the tenant needs to figure their budget out so that this does not continue to happen. Obviously, the landlord does not want to evict, but will have to if the tenant is not able to pay the rent on time.
The next important step is to contact the landlord. A lot of landlords have no problem really discussing various options with you in order to help you to avoid eviction. If you offer them some option that seems favorable, they may just take it, in order to help you avoid eviction. Furthermore, there are also various programs available in order to assist you with your eviction, and help to keep you at your Westlake Village real estate. There probably is even some local help available as well.
Another option is for you to contact a lawyer and see if they have any options that they can help you with. They may know about various federal and state programs that can help you with your eviction. They also have various negotiation options with your landlord or the government, so they can provide you with better options. They may also potentially help with certain paperwork that is involved, making sure that it is properly filed.
Conclusion and Legal Help
In eviction proceedings, there are several nuances to the fair housing laws and local laws that make the need for an attorney or other advocate in this process, as the case may be, extremely important. There are many rules that must be followed for a termination of tenancy and to file for eviction. If any of these rules, such as when and how to deliver a termination of tenancy, are violated, the case could be dismissed and you could lose your claim for unpaid rent or possession of the apartment.
The rules are also very different from lease terms and state law. If you try to follow what the lease terms require for delivery of a termination of tenancy, you may lose. The same holds true for the state law. Many times a landlord will simply assume what the state law requires and follow that for an action against a Section 8 tenant. When taking these steps with a Section 8 tenant, many landlords will be violating the terms of the lease or the Fair Housing Act , both of which deal with discrimination and other laws such as the Illinois Human Rights Act. These laws along with the many problems with the Section 8 program, such as failing to timely inspect the unit or taking months to inspect and continue to pay the tenant, leave a lot of room for argument as to whether or not a violation has occurred. Thus, having an attorney or advocate that is familiar with both Section 8 law and traditional landlord/tenant law is essential.
These rules and regulations, both local and state as well as HUD, are constantly changing, and are enforced almost on a case by case basis. While they all have to be followed, the fair housing laws and Human Rights law attached to these rules almost make it impossible to get any termination of tenancy or eviction through without going through the full procedure including filing a lawsuit.
While evictions can be expensive, under these rules, they at least guarantee that a tenant is being treated fairly in the process.