Failure To Vacate Unit When Lease Expires Constitutes Serious Violation Mandating Termination Of Assistance

摘要

A Section 8 tenant's failure to vacate her residence when her lease expired constituted a serious lease violation, mandating the termination of her rental assistance, ruled the Minnesota Court of Appeals in a case of first impression. (Wilhite v. Scott Housing and Redevelopment Authority, No. A07-2103, 2009 WL 65595 (Minn. App.), January 13, 2009) Tenant Barbara Wilhite challenged the termination of her Section 8 assistance by the Scott County Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), claiming that the cited reason for her eviction-serious violation of her lease -was not supported by substantial evidence, that the termination notice was procedurally and constitutionally deficient, and that she was deprived of her constitutional right to confront and cross-examine witnesses at her hearings. Wilhite and her daughters executed a one-year lease, but her landlord refused to renew her lease because she was late with her rent payments and had other problems. Her landlord gave her more than two months' notice to vacate the premises at the end of the lease term. When Wilhite did not leave by the end of the lease term, her landlord evicted her, and the eviction was upheld by the county district court. Upon the eviction, Wilhite lost her Section 8 rental assistance.