A site’s community room is an ideal place for residents to throw parties or hold resident meetings. But your site may have closed its community room during the pandemic to limit social interactions and abide by local health guidelines. In fact, these type of safety precautions were common...
The U.S. Department of the Treasury recently announced that it has distributed $6.1 billion through the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program in less than two weeks since the $21.6 billion was allocated to the program through funding provided by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The...
High-speed Internet at home has become essential for school, work, and many other areas of life during the pandemic. Some of your households may be struggling to afford an Internet connection. In an April Pew Research survey of American parents with children attending school remotely, 36 percent...
With the aging of the U.S. population, you may find that the average age of your residents and applicants seeking units is older. Helping residents to age in place safely is a win-win for both owners and residents. Residents typically want to live independently for as long as possible, and...
Residents may ask employees to do personal tasks such drop off their dry cleaning or fix a stereo or some other personal equipment. This puts owners in a delicate position because, on one hand, allowing such employee behavior opens you up to liability risks, and on the other hand, barring...
By signing a lease agreement, a resident agrees to follow the terms of the lease. If the tenant breaks a clause of this contract, an owner must often first send the tenant a “Notice to Quit.” A Notice to Quit is a formal legal document an owner sends a resident in an attempt to fix a...
As part of its compliance monitoring responsibilities, a state housing agency must conduct on-site physical inspections and review low-income certifications and other documentation. The agency must perform these inspections and certification reviews at least once every three years after the...
Have you ever had a resident complain to you about another resident’s harassing or abusive behavior? Maybe the other resident is loudly insulting him or, worse, using racial epithets. You might be tempted to ignore the problem. But your decision could be costly. The resident who’s...
Your common areas play a major role in your site’s success. They’re the areas that your residents share and prospective renters see first. But your residents may cause problems in your common areas, inadvertently or otherwise. They may leave their garbage out, store personal property...
One way residents may steal electricity is by stealing from the building supply. Residents may tamper with wiring and hook up directly to your building’s metered electricity supply. A resident who does this taps into power that you’re paying for. Another way to steal electricity is...
If you don’t know when to count—and when not to count—the income of absentees, because of military service or otherwise, during recertification at your mixed-income site, you can miscalculate residents’ rent and jeopardize the owner’ tax credits. Counting the income...
When dealing with the death of a resident, you must remain sensitive to the family and friends of the deceased but also carefully follow legal procedures. We’ll tell you what steps you must take to deal with the deceased resident’s body and belongings. We’ll explain how you can...
