Dealing With...

IRS Issues Temporary Procedures for Submitting PLR Requests

May 13, 2020

A private letter ruling (PLR) is a written response the IRS issues to an owner or taxpayer when the owner asks a question about the tax effects of its acts or transactions. For example, you may not know whether the IRS can give the owner more time to elect the site’s minimum set-aside, or...

Get Right to Enter Residents’ Units with Government Inspectors

February 11, 2020

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...

Take Five Steps to Curb Behavior of Abusive Residents

December 23, 2019

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...

Use Common Area Rules to Protect Site and Reduce Risk of Liability

December 4, 2019

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...

How to Discourage Electricity Theft, Utilities Tampering by Residents

December 4, 2019

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...

HUD Proposes Revisions to Final Disparate Impact Rule

August 29, 2019

HUD recently released a proposed rule that would revise the 2013 disparate impact rule, which set the standard for determining when a practice with a discriminatory effect violates the Fair Housing Act. Disparate impact is a legal doctrine under the Fair Housing Act which states that a policy...

Four Rules for Recertifying Household Member on Military Duty or Otherwise Absent

June 27, 2019

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...

Take Four Steps When Resident Who Lived Alone Passes Away

May 30, 2019

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...

Add Nine Key Protections to Your Employee Lease Addendum

April 26, 2019

The tax credit law doesn’t bar you from renting to employees. In fact, many sites have on-site employees—from property managers to security officers to maintenance workers—who reside at the LIHTC site and are essential to the success of the property. Having someone employed by...

IRS Issues Final Rule on Physical Inspections and Compliance Monitoring

March 28, 2019

On Feb. 26, the IRS issued final regulations for LIHTC compliance monitoring. The regulations replace the temporary compliance monitoring regulations under which state housing agencies have been operating since 2016. The new regulations make several changes to compliance monitoring requirements...

Set Up Sexual Harassment Complaint Procedure to Safeguard Site Against Liability

February 28, 2019

Last year, HUD and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an interagency task force to combat sexual harassment in housing. This joint outreach followed a DOJ pilot program started in October 2017. The initiative sought to increase the Department’s efforts to protect women from...

Facilitate Eviction Process by Giving Attorney Relevant Documents, Information

January 30, 2019

When you hire an attorney to evict a resident from your tax credit site for violating the lease, you want to have the eviction handled as quickly and efficiently as possible. But the process may be unnecessarily hindered if you don’t give the attorney all the documents and information she...