Comply with Local Notice Requirements for Eviction

Before seeking to evict a resident for failing to comply with Section 8 rules, make sure you comply with any local notice requirements that would give the resident an opportunity to cure his Section 8 lease violation. As stated in the previous item, don't assume that termination of Section 8 benefits automatically terminates the lease.

Recently, a New York owner sued to evict a resident after sending a 10-day lease termination notice saying that the resident violated his lease by not complying with Section 8 voucher program regulations. The owner claimed that the resident failed to recertify his annual income, thereby losing his rent subsidy. The resident asked the court to dismiss the case, claiming that the owner didn't send a notice to cure the lease violation before terminating the lease. The owner argued that no cure notice was required since, by law, the resident didn't have to pay the subsidized portion of his rent that he lost by not recertifying.

The court ruled for the resident and dismissed the case. A cure was possible, and the city's Rent Stabilization Code required the owner to send the resident a cure notice before terminating. The resident claimed that he had sent the recertification documents to the local housing authority by certified mail and was seeking reinstatement of his rent subsidy. A cure was possible since the housing authority could reinstate the resident's subsidy, or the resident could pay the subsidy portion of his rent, or the owner could give the resident a new lease that wasn't subject to a housing assistance payments contract with the housing authority. Instead, the owner improperly terminated the resident's lease without a cure notice [Beach Haven Apartments #5 Inc. v. Shinder, January 2010].