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First off, yes I have posted on this forum before and I am trying to move, and working with my counselor and legal aid to work on my credit issues.
My issue and other sec 8 tenants I have conversed with in the complex, which is mainly a Cooperative (very loosly put) is that the manager, who is new (the management company is still the same) but the board of directors for the Coop is new, has dragged out maintenance requests for over 90 days plus. My oven is inoperable and the stove has worked off and on, various other things are broken, the other tenant had a ceiling in the kitchen damaged badly by an upstairs tenant with a washing machine. Her unit has not been fixed for six months and there is mold. Code Enforcement has been out to my apartment and hers among others. HUD Housing knows of the problems. Both of us have paid our part of the contract rent ontime ever month. I have been here for one year. Everytime I ask for the status of the repair request, the manager says they have to order the part and there are other stoves that are broken in addition to broken air conditioners in most other units. The other units which are rented/owned by Coop members also have a lot of major problems, but I am asking about the section 8 tenants. Also, the landlord said I could break my lease and move, even though it runs out next March of 2011.
My question is regarding the landlord and management company in relation to HUD and the various section 8 complaints made by tenants. Has the landlord lost the HUD section 8 contract and are they not being paid the Housing Authority portion? Is this why they refuse to make the repairs? Are they trying to get the property condemned or and deliberately not making repairs to the property so they can sell ? The property is in a prime area in Northern Virginia, but the buildings are so bad they cannot even be renovated.
Last edited by Artsywoman; 06-09-2010 at 02:25 PM..
Reason: additions
With Section 8...They have to inspect the Apts Yearly..... They must pass Before the apts are Approved. Has anyone had their apts inspected?? Maybe you need to go to Your local office & talk to them.
I had one experience with section 8. the tenant got a totally refurbished apartment. The tenant did not take care of the apartment and constantly wanted repairs. Repairs of things they broke. Doors broken, kitchen drains and tub drains stopped up, the smoke detector knocked off the ceiling, broken windows. HUD required me to make reapirs. I refused to repair stuff the tenant was destroying. How does a kitchen cabinet door "fall" off?
I told HUD and the tenant to move. HUD did not pull my UD certification. They sent a letter to the tenat, copy to me, that the tenat should take better care. I continued to refuse repairs. The tenant finally moved (during the night). I redid the place and rented it for less to a family that took care of it. I made less in rent, but saved more in repairs and upkeep.
I will never do HUD again. Once was lesson enough.
I had one experience with section 8. the tenant got a totally refurbished apartment. The tenant did not take care of the apartment and constantly wanted repairs. Repairs of things they broke. Doors broken, kitchen drains and tub drains stopped up, the smoke detector knocked off the ceiling, broken windows. HUD required me to make reapirs. I refused to repair stuff the tenant was destroying. How does a kitchen cabinet door "fall" off?
I told HUD and the tenant to move. HUD did not pull my UD certification. They sent a letter to the tenat, copy to me, that the tenat should take better care. I continued to refuse repairs. The tenant finally moved (during the night). I redid the place and rented it for less to a family that took care of it. I made less in rent, but saved more in repairs and upkeep.
I will never do HUD again. Once was lesson enough.
I understand that there are some tenants on section 8 who do this, but my apartment is spotless and the landlord even saw it and said so. My rent is always paid on time. The oven was broken when I moved in. Do not assume all section 8 tenants are bad. I know there are a lot that are as there are a few here, but some of us are on it due to medical reasons, not for being on drugs etc. When I left my other apt it was left in perfect condition.Also, you can screen section 8 renters and if they did all those things you said, then you should have reported them to HUD and their counselor and they would have been evicted. There are rules tenants have to follow too. They sound like a bunch of crazies!
The maximum penalty I've seen is contract cancellation for failure of either side to abide by the contract.
Appliances have been the bane of managing rentals... at least for me. At one HUD property, 40% of the service calls were appliance related and HUD maximum reimbursement rate of $2 per appliance per month simply didn't warrant the overall expense and frustration for all parties.
That said, if the owner furnished appliance was not working at the time you moved in... the Move In inspector failed to do a proper inspection and the unit must fail...
Are you allowed to repair in deduct in your State?
Location: Pelion, South Carolina/orig. from Cape May, NJ
1,113 posts, read 3,493,670 times
Reputation: 1176
I've been a Section 8 tenant for 10 years. I do know that before a client moves into a unit it must be inspected and pass, so how your broken stove got missed is a mystery. Also the LL is usually responsible for the appliances and upkeep on the property.
If a unit fails inspection, either the tenant or the LL has 30 days to make repairs.
A previous poster said he refused to make repairs because his tenants did the damages, but I never heard of it making a difference who caused the damages. If they're not fixed, the LL and tenant both lose their HUD. Maybe their state is different, but NJ and SC (where I've lived) couldn't care less who did the damage or why or how...they just insist it be fixed.
It's quite possible your LL has already been booted off HUD, so now he doesn't give a damn anymore. I find it hard to believe that the awful place you describe receives HUD benefits. It would never pass their standards.
My drawer in kitchen fell off when I pushed it shut When the worker came & fixed it he told me was common Cheap chip board covered to look like real wood So YES it Does happen...no ones fault. But as LL YOU are required to fix it. Call Normal wear & tear!
Location: Pelion, South Carolina/orig. from Cape May, NJ
1,113 posts, read 3,493,670 times
Reputation: 1176
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katie1
My drawer in kitchen fell off when I pushed it shut When the worker came & fixed it he told me was common Cheap chip board covered to look like real wood So YES it Does happen...no ones fault. But as LL YOU are required to fix it. Call Normal wear & tear!
That's what happens when LLs insist on always going the "cheap" route when furnishing their units. They pay $5 for a set of window blinds and expect them to last forever.
Yep! I to have had the Smoke detector off!! Dang thing was attached to Drywall instead of Stud! The guy upstairs LOVES to Stomp! My fault NOOOOO way! But since I am Section 8 & he pays Full rent guess who was blammed GRRR
My drawer in kitchen fell off when I pushed it shut When the worker came & fixed it he told me was common Cheap chip board covered to look like real wood So YES it Does happen...no ones fault. But as LL YOU are required to fix it. Call Normal wear & tear!
Normal Wear and Tear is always the residential Landlords problem to deal with.
Some tenants are exceptionally careful and others not so, with neither being negligent... In large communities of the same age, regular maintenance staff are well aware of problem areas and the best fix to use.
I've had appliances (landlord owned), broken windows, damaged doors, etc... that were clearly tenant caused and I could prove it... Section 8 take was for the Landlord to get if repaired, bill the tenant and if the tenant didn't pay, start eviction...
Housing was much more interested in repairs and billing tenants when Housing would guarantee the owner two months rent towards proven tenant damages... Housing no longer does this and many long time owners I know no longer accept new Housing Assistance Tenants.
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Also the LL is usually responsible for the appliances and upkeep on the property.
When the worker came & fixed it he told me was common 
Cheap chip board covered to look like real wood 
So YES it Does happen...no ones fault. But as LL YOU are required to fix it. Call Normal wear & tear!
