Recent Court Rulings

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Facts: A resident's daughter sued the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) for terminating the resident's enrollment in the Section 8 voucher program. HPD determined that the resident's subsidy should be terminated due to her absence from her subsidized unit for 180 consecutive days, and due to her daughter's failure to provide documentation that the building management had allowed the daughter to be added to the ...

Facts: An owner financed the construction of an apartment building in 1968 with a mortgage insured under the National Housing Act. In 1992, the owner and the United States, acting through HUD, entered into a Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract. Under the contract, in exchange for rent subsidies and other benefits, the owner agreed to maintain its property in a decent, safe, and sanitary manner. The original HAP contract expired in 1997, but it was periodica...

Facts: A resident had been receiving rent subsidies under HUD's Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program for eight years when she failed to provide the local public housing authority (PHA) with timely change-of-income information required by local rules.

Facts: A resident signed a one-year Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher lease with an owner. The owner claimed that she served a “Notice of Landlord's Intention not to Renew Section 8 Lease upon Expiration of Lease Term” on both the resident and the office that managed the housing program. The notice allegedly stated that the lease would not be renewed and that failure to vacate at lease end would result in the owner's commencing an eviction proc...

Facts: Residents sued owners for refusing to accept their Section 8 vouchers. The antidiscrimination clauses in New York City's Local Law 10 prohibit owners from refusing to accept these vouchers. The owners argued that one resident's household composition made her ineligible to use the voucher.

Facts: In August 2007, a resident fell asleep after taking prescribed medication for depression. He fell asleep while cooking a pork chop in a frying pan. While he was asleep, the pork chop burned and the microwave above the stove was damaged. The site owner later served him with a notice of termination and filed an eviction lawsuit against him.

Facts: Owners of two multifamily housing sites had entered into 30-year housing assistance payment (HAP) contracts with HUD in the late 1970s. Under the HAP contracts, the owners were required to maintain and operate their units and related facilities so as to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing. The contracts also provided HUD with inspection rights to ensure compliance.

Facts: A public housing resident married another public housing resident and moved into his unit, without notifying the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) or asking that her name be added to her husband's lease agreement.

The husband submitted an Occupant's Affidavit of Income to NYCHA every year, listing himself and his grandchildren as occupants of the unit, but he never added his new wife's name to the affidavits.

Facts: The Mobile, Ala., Housing Board discovered that a Section 8 resident had failed to report an increase in her household income. It sent the resident a letter notifying her that the housing board had overpaid its portion of the rent for 16 months in the amount of $3,248, which the resident must repay.

The resident agreed that she owed that amount and entered into a payback agreement by which she would make monthly payments over a 12-month period. Howev...

Facts: The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) terminated a resident's tenancy after she violated a settlement agreement. The resident appealed NYCHA's decision, claiming that it was arbitrary and unreasonable.

Ruling: The court ruled against the resident.