Recent Court Rulings

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Facts: Following neighbors’ complaints to management and after receiving at least one letter titled “Disturbing the Peaceful Enjoyment,” a resident received a notice to vacate her unit. The management cited her unit as a meeting place for narcotics dealers and pointed to the sale of narcotics in and around the premises as its reason for the eviction. The notice further indicated that the resident was previously warned about the lease violations.

Facts: A former resident sued the local housing authority for allegedly violating her due process rights when they terminated her Section 8 voucher. The voucher paid all of the resident’s $875 monthly rent. In her termination letter, the housing authority stated that she failed to submit her recertification package, failed to attend her recertification appointment, and violated her lease.

Facts: A PHA resident lived in a unit with her three daughters. Before traveling abroad, she gave her adult son a key "to check on the apartment." While the resident was away, firefighters entered her unit and found a dog tied to a radiator near a stove, which had all four burner knobs on, but with only one lit pilot. A maintenance worker had notified the fire department of a noxious odor coming from the resident's unit, and the resident conceded that the dog probably turned the stove's knobs on while trying to free itself.

Facts: An applicant sued a local PHA for denying her application for low-income housing. The PHA had denied the application due to her prior conviction for involuntary manslaughter. Under the PHA’s stated admissions and occupancy policy, an applicant with a conviction for involuntary manslaughter is ineligible, and is denied participation in the program for life. The applicant appealed the denial, and the PHA held a grievance hearing. The hearing officer upheld the denial of her application.

Facts: A project-based Section 8 housing owner entered into an agreement to rent a unit with a resident in April 2009. The agreement, based on the HUD model lease, required the owner, with the resident's cooperation, to conduct a recertification of the resident's household income and composition at least once a year. In anticipation of the 2011 recertification, the owner gave the resident the necessary reminder notices. The resident attended her recertification interview and provided all the information and signatures that the owner required to calculate her rent.

Facts: An owner sent her Section 8 resident a notice to vacate. In the notice, the owner stated that the lease had been on a month-to-month basis since the end of March 2011. She further stated that she wanted the resident to vacate the unit by the end of November 2011 because she didn’t wish to renew the lease for another month.

Facts: During a resident's tenancy, she lived with several family members until those individuals left the household and she was the sole remaining occupant. Two months before her death, she submitted a permission form to add her two sons to her permanent household. This request was disapproved by letter on the grounds that both individuals failed the criminal background check. The resident died five days after the letter was issued.

Facts: An owner has participated in the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program since 2005. He entered into a housing assistance payment (HAP) contract with the local housing authority for each of his units. Pursuant to the contracts, the housing authority has paid a portion of the monthly rent on behalf of the residents, and the owner has been subjected to about 20 inspections per year by the housing authority.

Facts: A Section 8 resident signed a one-year lease with the owner that began on July 1, 2009, and required the resident to pay a $700 security deposit. The rent was $538 per month; the amount to be paid by federal public housing assistance was $446 per month, and the resident’s monthly payment was $92. If the rent wasn’t paid in full on the first day of the month, the lease authorized the owner to charge a $35 late payment fee.

Facts: A prospective resident with disabilities who relies on Social Security and has no convictions for any violent or drug-related criminal activity applied for a unit. She met the financial eligibility requirements, but was denied admission. The rejection letters stated, “Criminal History unsatisfactory.” Her criminal history report stated “fail to ID fugitive intent to give false info” with a filing date of May 2008. The applicant appealed the denial of admission, but her appeal was denied in February 2012.