Dallas Housing Authority Renewal

[James H.]

Hello BP Friends,

We have dropped the ball.  Last September, we agreed to rent to a DHA voucher recipient.  The process was arduous and long, as I posted on BP last year.

The date of our signed lease was originally November 1.  But, the tenant did not move in until December 1 because it took DHA so long to inspect and get their paperwork done.  DHA had us to resign the lease with a December 1 start date.  But, they did not change the October 31, 2018, end date.  We have been thinking "November 30" since then - until today.  Obviously, the lease expires in just over 30 days.

We have no idea what to do at this point and are not sure how to go about researching the procedure in short order.  The DHA website does not seem to have anything about renewal procedures.

The FMR for our zip code has gone up by $110 too. So, if possible, we would like to submit a request for rent increase. I did find that DHA form by Googling. But, DHA seems to want 90 days before lease expiration to process it. Should we submit it anyway?

What else do we need to do?  Obviously, neither we nor the tenant want to be left high and dry.  The tenant is wonderful.

[Courtney King]

@James H. I would get the email address for the case worker and email them. That's the quickest and easiest way. Private message me the name of the case worker and I have it or at least the email of the supervisor. We don't do section 8 but I have this information from when we had inherited section 8 tenants. 

Everything is based on the lease agreement; If your lease states they must give a 60-day notice then you need to give 60 days for the rental increase. If only 30, then 30 days. According to the days specified in the lease, to renew...send the renewal both to the tenant and section 8 (via fax and email). It may take them longer than 30-days to reply but since it's based on the written lease agreement they may backdate everything. 

The tenant can still sign now just be patient for housing to catch up. Also, if you do the renewal, I would put the new expiration date in spring/summer NOT this time of year again. This will give you options if you decide you want them out and spring/summer will be a better time of year.