Send Correct Notice Before Raising Rent

If a resident's interim or annual recertification indicates that his current income justifies a rent increase, make sure you send the proper HUD notice before increasing the resident's rent. If you don't send the proper notice and the resident doesn't pay the rent increase, you may not be able to evict him for nonpayment.

That's what a New York court recently decided. The owner of a project-based Section 8 building sued to evict a resident for nonpayment of rent, claiming that the resident owed $8,700 after his monthly rent increased from $140 to $597. The resident asked the court to dismiss the case, claiming that the owner didn't send him proper HUD notices before charging the rent increase. The court ruled for the resident. The owner sent the resident only the notices required for either an interim recertification based on a claimed change in the resident's income, or for annual income recertification. Therefore, the owner couldn't collect the increased rent claimed in its petition [St. Johns 510 Associates v. Pierre, January 2010].