Suppose a resident’s unit is burglarized or a site visitor falls when a stairway handrail becomes loose or something happens at your site which causes property loss or bodily injury. Are you certain your employees let you know about certain incidents like these as soon as they happen? If...
When a new resident moves into a unit at your tax credit site, it’s important to make sure that he either turns on utilities, such as gas and electric, or, if the utilities were left on, transfers the account to his name. That’s because if new residents don’t transfer utilities...
On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. that a state’s “Qualified Allocation Plan” (QAP) implemented by an allocating agency violates the Fair Housing Act if it “...
Depending on where your site is locations and the local climate, the summer months may be the optimal time to perform upgrades and renovations at your site, especially if outdoor works is involved. Contractors may be more willing to work during the summer, and there may be greater availability...
As a site owner or manager, you must check the common areas of your tax credit site regularly for safety hazards. If you find problems, you must immediately correct them, or risk legal liability for any potential injuries to residents, their guests, or visitors to the site. You may encounter...
Just about every time an apartment crime occurs, it seems the victim sues the owner for negligence. If a crime occurs at your site, the question of whether or not an owner has provided households with adequate security will be the crux of any legal analysis. If a court rules that you didn’...
One of the most common complaints among households is loud and disruptive neighbors. Unreasonable disturbances of other households with noise from loud music, fighting, and partying are common lease violations.
Sites awarded low-income housing credits prior to 1990 had a compliance period of 15 years. Beginning in 1990, a change in federal law required an additional 15 years of compliance, which is known as the extended use period. As a result, IRC Section 42(h)(6) establishes that sites that were...
Even in the age of Facebook and other social media, many sites still feature bulletin boards in their lobbies or common areas. Since not every resident will be tech savvy or want to go online to check the latest site news, a bulletin board can be an effective way for a site to inform households...
Sometimes a site owner must give back tax credits that it claimed in previous years of the credit period. To do this, owners fill out IRS Form 8611: Recapture of Low-Income Housing Credit and file it with the tax return. The IRS will then recapture part of the tax credits the owner claimed in...
Residents frequently need you to let friends, relatives, or workers into their units when they aren’t home. But it’s risky to do that since you could inadvertently be letting a criminal into one of your residents’ units. If something happens to the resident or her property, you...
Sites generate a lot of records, such as leasing records, maintenance records, security deposit records, incident reports, and so on. Because these records take up space in leasing or management offices, most staff members want to get rid of them as soon as possible. But these records can help...
