Topic: Housing Authority Inspections

Housing Authority inspected one of their client's apartments and found water stains on the wall in a closet. The water stains came from the closet above the apartment where the water heater pipes were leaking a couple of weeks ago.

They are requiring us to have a professional environmental specialist inspect it, test it and, if it is mold, have it remediated.

The rent is $595. It costs $600 just for the inspection and test. Unsure of the remediation until the test comes back, but it could be another $1000.

If we refuse, they go into rent abatement.

In another apartment, the same day, they wrote up a dirty bathtub and wanted us to have it inspected for mold. The tenant convinced the inspector they had just gotten out of the shower, that's why it was brown on the bottom.

We decided in September not to accept any more vouchers from the H.A. The tenant's lease expires 12/31/14. We are considering giving them a non-renewal at this point.

Anyone else dealing with a picky H.A.?

Where I'm at, I think they are DCA. They came through last year and found "mold" in the window sills in about 53 of the over 250 of our apartments. It was mildew! Anyway, we were there until 8:00 that evening "re mediating". I think they have to find things in order to look like they are doing something. Thankfully, we go conventional soon!

The last time I worked at an H.A. property, they were pretty strict. They wouldn't allow us to sign a lease under 12 months; denied rent increases during tenancy, refused to allow landlords to charge subsidized residents for utilities even though conventional residents had to pay, and we had to wait 2-6 weeks for inspections. Then if they found one little thing they disapproved of, we had to schedule repairs and wait another 2-6 weeks for a re-inspection. Just this past July, our laws changed so that all landlords are required to accept H.A. tenants. I haven't had any yet.