Hello everyone, and thanks for joining me for today's Tuesday tip. Today we're going to be talking a little bit about HUD's file retention requirements. So there are a bunch of different aspects of record keeping that you have at the property. And the first one we're going to talk about is applicant files. Remember with your applicant files that everything you do with an applicant, from taking the application

To a final decision on that application through move in and the duration of their tenancy and then their move out, all of that needs to be kept for a duration of tenancy plus three years. So if it's just an application, you're going to keep everything related to that application through your processing, any wait list updates, and then the final disposition of that application.

if you accepted them, if you rejected them, rejection letter, documents that show when it was sent, how it was sent, and you're going to take all of that and keep it for a total of three years after a person comes off the wait list.

With the tenant files, again, you're going to keep those from application through everything that happens during tenancy and then for a duration of three years after the full tenancy. What you can do if somebody has been there a long time, for instance, you have a tenant that's been there for 15 years, is you can keep the years that you need for the review in an

Or working file and take all of that other information and put it in a history file and archive it, you still need to keep all of that, but you don't necessarily need to keep it in the file that you work with every day. It just needs to be available at the property and not shredded or destroyed.


So the active file, when we talk about making things into an active file and a history file, the active file, as I said, is going to keep everything that you need, say, for review. So it's going to keep everything from application to move in, including your post-move-in EIV report. And then the rest of that file is going to be the most recent three years worth of certification.

So the annual for a particular year and everything that came after it for the last three full years of certification. So for instance, if I have somebody that moved in in 2021, I would keep the application and move in for 2021. I would keep 2026, 2025, 2024.

And the intervening year would be moved into an archive folder that I would keep. I just need wouldn't need to look at every day.

Tenant file order is something that we get a lot of questions on. And unfortunately, HUD doesn't provide a lot of guidance on what your file should look like. They do tell you what your file should contain. So they tell you what you have to keep. They do not tell you what that needs to look like. Most management companies will use some form of divided folder with clips to keep everything secure.

But how you keep your files, like what they physically look like, and the file order is up to the owner agent. So your management company typically will have a set file order that they keep things in. The common practices again, divided folder with clips, binders are used in some cases. The set format is typically a written format given by the owner agent.

Pam Kazlauskas (04:11.84)
And you're gonna again keep three years plus the move in in any active file, the file that your reviewer is normally going to see. Everything else can be moved into that archive folder, but do not destroy it. Has to be kept for a minimum of three years after a tenant moves out.

So, when you're looking at your file order, some best practices to develop a file order that is going to work and be easy to review, include things like a set organizational structure. So make sure that every file is organized the same way, whatever your order is. You're going to either divide sections or put a marker in there to identify which certification is which. Again, that is up to you as to how you do that.

No loose papers. Loose papers can easily get moved or lost. And remember, you're dealing with confidential information, so you want to make sure that stays where it's supposed to stay. A written guide is a great idea to provide to anyone who's new to your files or to provide to the reviewer on review day. You can just simply hand them a piece of paper that tells them, okay, for every file that you are going to look at, it's got to be organized in this manner.

Just makes things a lot easier. It is not a requirement that you do that, but it's helpful for somebody who isn't familiar with your files to have a reference sheet. And you're going to want to have file naming conventions for any electronic files, if you are using electronic files. That means that any file has a set order that makes it easy to identify what it is.

Maybe, you know, Smith 101 AR2125. Something that tells you what it is and makes it very easy to identify that if you are going to pull something for a reviewer.


When you're talking about what to keep for EIV, HUD also tells you what you need to keep, but again, not the specific order that things should be in. When you're talking about the file that contains all of the documents for the people that have access to EIV, you're going to want to keep for coordinators their original CAAF coordinator access form and their most current.

Their most recent rules of behavior, their most recent security training, and an owner authorization letter. That is the letter from the owner that states whoever your coordinator is has permission to act as the EIV coordinator for that property. Make sure you have one for anyone who is a coordinator. Doesn't have to take a specific format, it just needs to state who the owner is.

That they give permission for whoever the person is to be the EIV coordinator for that property and a signature and date. For users, each active user needs to have the UAAF, the rules of behavior, and the security training. And again, with that UAAF, it's the original and the most recent. For non-users, you're going to keep their rules of behavior.

and any security training documentation. Again, HUD does not dictate how you keep this stuff, but it's very helpful for you to keep it in a specific order that makes it easy to review.

For your reports, again, there's different ways of keeping this. Some people will keep it in a binder organized by month, some people will keep it in a binder organized by report. Whatever you would like to do is fine. Just make sure you're keeping what you need to and make it easy to review. We suggest you keep all of your periodic reports at least back to your last MOR.


But you don't need to be keeping reports for the last 20 years. You should have an owner-agent policy on what you keep and for how long. And remember, you need to keep a record of what was destroyed and when when you're destroying things.

Other items, things like HAP requests. HUD requires that you keep the most recent five years of your HAP requests. You can do that on paper or electronically. You just have to keep them. You're gonna keep your tenant selection and EIV policies. Remember, right now you have two: the current and the Hotma. They do have to be available for review, at least the tenant selection plan does. And I suggest, but it's not a requirement.

That you keep at least the previous ones. So if there are any questions on when something changed, you have a record of that. You're gonna be keeping your past budgets, invoices, etc. by owner agent policy. You're gonna keep correspondence other than tenant correspondence, which will be part of the tenant file, as per owner policy.

And any employment issues, those are typically kept at the central employer. So your owner agent, whoever is keeping employee records, that's where that stuff belongs. And that's going to be as per the policies of your agency. Remember that almost everything we do has some form of confidential information to it. Make sure you're following confidentiality rules, keep things in a locked cabinet, drawer, office.

Make sure access is restricted only to those people who need it. And remember that VAWA has to be kept separately from your standard tenant files. When you are destroying files, you want to make sure that you keep a log of what was destroyed, when, how, and by whom, and that you destroy it in a manner that ensures confidentiality, which typically is shredding.


Some people burn it. HUD mentions pulverizing, but I don't think I've seen anybody who does that. And it's okay to use a shredding service as long as you're using a legitimate shredding service.

So that is going to do it for today. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions for what you might like to see on the next tip. Thank you very much for joining us, and we'll see you on the next one.