All Forum Posts by: Alexa S.

 Yes, will be contacting an attorney. I posted this on a Sunday night as a jump start since folks on this forum collectively have a lot more experience than I do with my sole property. 

Plot twist- I looked back through old emails and was reminded that the contact that shared the suggestion to write into the lease the terms that the tenant pays utility overages was not from this forum but was recommended by my initial contact at DCHA. It was a local landlord who has voucher holder tenants and I used the DCHA caseworker's advice to reach out to her for guidance on starting with a tenant in the program. Looks like my fault for not doing further due diligence on this but also unfortunate I took this person's advice that came as a trusted and knowledgeable landlord to voucher holders.

Can you explain what you mean that there is "no ability to non-renew"?

@Greg Scott Thank you, Russel Brazil says I've been illegally charging my tenant rent. And yes, would like to talk to an attorney but was hoping to get some insight here.

@Russell Brazil I appreciate your response. Unfortunately, I received information from this forum to the contrary, from a longstanding landlord working with DCHA so of course it wasn't my intention to break the law. I can resolve the back pay but would the best solution then to just change the utilities to the tenant's name moving forward?

I've been renting to the same tenant with a housing choice voucher since 12/20. Before getting set up, I spoke to someone from this forum- I wish I retained their info- and they advised me to write into my lease terms that (even though the government was paying the tenant's utilities) the tenant was responsible for any costs above and beyond average usage, meaning anything above what the amount the government was paying me monthly. The government provides $197 per month for utilities and the tenant routinely runs far over this, averaging about $200 per month more than this. I bill her monthly and she eventually pays me back but right now she owes around $800 in back utilities. She is now saying the housing authority says I am not allowed to bill her per the terms of the DCHA lease which is separate from my lease but somewhat in conflict in that it says she does not pay. I understood the DCHA lease to mean that the government pays me for utilities but NOT that it precludes me from billing her for overages. She is also asking that I return the overages that she's paid me over the last four years.  DCHA is notoriously awful to deal with and when I've had to be in touch it can take dozens of calls and emails before I get a response. What measure should I take?
  

Thank you! Yes, we have a long paper trail over email which she was able to share with me. Unfortunately, we are getting little response on either of our efforts with phone calls and emails. I'm hopeful that the evidence will work out in our favor but it's honestly unreal how no one will accept responsibility and putting both my tenant and me in jeopardy. I'm sorry you went through something similar.