Recent Court Rulings

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Facts: A site manager sought to relocate a Section 8 resident from her two-bedroom unit to a smaller unit because the manager deemed the resident ineligible for the subsidized two-bedroom unit. The resident had occupied the two-bedroom unit since 2005, when she initially shared it with her daughter. But after her daughter moved out, she maintained the two-bedroom unit despite the regulation, because she asked and was granted permission from the manager to do so.

Facts: Three days prior to a resident’s death, her daughter sought the site manager’s permission to reside in her mother’s unit. The daughter stated that she resided in the unit since 2004 at the request of her mother, who was sick and required a liver transplant.

Facts: A resident challenged the termination of her Section 8 housing assistance for failure to attend monthly income-recertification hearings. In August 2012, she applied to the local housing authority to transfer her Section 8 voucher from another city, certifying in the process that she had no income. The housing authority approved her application and issued a voucher, subject to its rule that benefit recipients claiming zero income must appear in person each month to recertify their zero-income status.

Facts: An owner started eviction proceedings against a resident for operating a daycare business in her unit, which is located in a HUD building where the resident had lived for 35 years. On the date of the trial, attorneys for both parties entered into a formal agreement to resolve their dispute.

Facts: In 2010, a fire in a unit took the lives of a Section 8 resident and her guest. Their bodies were found on the third floor of the unit, and an autopsy confirmed that both women died from smoke inhalation. The third-floor bedroom lacked a smoke detector and an alternate means of egress—even though the unit was required to have both safety features under the Housing Choice Voucher program in which the owner participated.

Facts: A resident sued the site owners for use of an allocation clause in the resident’s lease. The clause requires a resident to specifically and in writing designate his monthly payment as “rent” or “for rent” for it to be considered as such. The clause allows the owners to apply undesignated payments from a tenant first toward outstanding maintenance charges, late fees, or legal fees, and then to rent.

Facts: A PHA terminated a resident’s tenancy after determining that she had breached its rules and regulations. In May 2011, the police executed a search warrant for the resident’s unit. The search warrant was obtained based on two incidents where an informant observed an unidentified male bagging crack-cocaine for distribution and a firearm. During the search, police found approximately 47 plastic bags of marijuana, a starter pistol, business records of narcotics transactions, and two plastic bags containing smaller plastic bags.

Facts: After using her key to enter the lobby of the building, a resident was deterred by the presence of two men standing in front of the elevator. The resident testified that she didn’t “trust anybody in that building” and declined their invitation to enter the elevator. She went outside and waited until she saw two elderly Hispanic women enter the building. All five persons got onto the elevator when it arrived, and the resident pressed the button for the seventh floor.

Facts: In August 2009, a resident who has participated in the voucher program since 1997 transferred to a voucher program administered by a different PHA. Before her transfer, she signed a “Statement of Family Obligations” acknowledging that she understood the program’s requirements, which included complying with interim and annual reporting requirements, reporting any changes in her source of income within 10 days of the change, and reporting any changes in household composition within 10 days of the change.

Facts: A Section 8 resident’s rent was $50 per month. The lease provided that a $25 late charge would be assessed each month that he didn’t pay his rent in full by the fifth of the month. The resident’s account became delinquent in July 2012 after he failed to pay in full a $95.50 charge for repair and maintenance services. As a result, his rent payment was late in July, August, and September 2012, and he was assessed three late charges totaling $75. On Sept. 26, 2012, the owner filed an eviction action for nonpayment of rent.