Hello everyone and welcome to today's Tuesday tip. Today we're going to be talking about how you can address extended tenant absences. The first thing that you're going to want to do when you have a tenant who has been away from the unit too long is make sure that you review both the HUD policies regarding extended absences and your policies regarding extended absences.

question that you want to be asking when you have a tenant who has an extended absence going on is why are they absent? There are going to be some reasons that are legitimate reasons to be away from the unit and that you could possibly grant an exception or a reasonable accommodation for. And then there are some that are going to simply be a violation of the terms of their lease. So you're going to be looking at are they in a medical facility? Do they have a medical issue that requires that they stay with family? Are they on vacation?

Do they have a second home? Or other reasons that there could be for an extended absence? The big question here is: is this an absence that is going to qualify for a reasonable accommodation or an exception under the policy? If it is not, you're going to address it as with any other lease violation. So sending the same notices, potentially termination paperwork.

If there is no legitimate reason for an absence, it is simply handled as another lease violation or a violation of the house rules depending on what's going on.

The big question when somebody is absent is is there a reasonable expectation of return? This often comes up with senior residents that may be in a long-term rehab or in a skilled nursing facility. You're going to take a look at your available documentation, including the facility's expected length of stay. Are they considered a long-term resident?


Sometimes you'll get the level of care needs from the resident, the family, or the facility, but be very careful of this area. You do not want to be asking for someone's diagnosis or whether they're long-term or what kind of assistance they need. That can get you into some pretty dangerous fair housing areas. You also may get some other documentation. So anything that supports whether the resident is expected to return is what you're looking for.

If you do not have a written extended absence policy, I strongly suggest that you come up with one. You can refer to the guidance in HUDS 4350.3, paragraph 6-9, B2 for what should be in the extended absence policy. You want to detail things like how long can a tenant be away from their unit before it's an issue, what are their obligations while they're away, what happens if they're away too long?

And are there exceptions to this policy, for instance, hospitals, extended care facilities, or a medical issue that requires them to stay somewhere else?

When there's an absence, you want to document the absence. Take a look at what documentation you need to get. I need to maybe look at where they are, how long they've been there. Is there a medical need? When are they expected to return? That's very key. Confirm whether or not there's a reasonable expectation that they will return. For instance, if my tenant's going to be in a rehab facility for

Three months because they were in a car accident and they've handled how the rent is going to be paid and all of that. That has a reasonable expectation of return, and that's something I can work with. If the tenant has just decided that they want to stay in their second home indefinitely, but they might come back, that's probably not something that has a reasonable expectation of return. You are going to look at documentation to support the situation and how you're going to handle it.

letter from a healthcare facility or medical provider or a signed statement from the resident or their legal representative are some examples of what we're going to get to document the situation.

It's a really good idea to consider a proactive approach to this, which means you're going to be letting people know what the responsibilities and expectations are in advance. That can avoid a lot of misunderstandings and confusion later on. So consider providing your absence policy in advance. You can include it in your house rules, or you can include it in the other materials that you provide to a resident at Move-in

One of the things that becomes a concern if we do have an extended stay in a medical facility is what's happening to the Social Security payments. Very often, when they are a longer-term resident, the facility will take the Social Security payments. So you need to determine how much of the benefit the tenant is receiving and how much of their expenses are still coming out of pocket. So you're going to be looking at how much do I count for income purposes?

And what do I count for? Expenses. Make sure you document everything that's used in your calculations.

So just a hint for whether somebody is long-term. Generally speaking, facilities are going to file for these social security payments to be diverted to the facility when a tenant is going to be there, or in their case, a patient, is going to be there typically more than 90 days, or is what they call a two-person assist. Something that indicates that that resident requires services that they cannot provide on an outpatient basis.


So if you get that information, that can help you determine whether somebody i has a reasonable expectation of return.

There are permanently confined family members, and HUD deals with those separately. For instance, if my husband and I live at your property and my husband is now permanently living in a skilled nursing facility, he's a permanently confined family member. And I get to decide whether he stays on the unit or not. But he can't be listed as the head or co-head.

You're gonna count income and expenses if he stays on the five nine. If he doesn't, you don't count those, but you do need to watch to make sure that money isn't coming to the person in your unit. And you need to have some provision for the signature of forms. For instance, I might have power of attorney for my husband, or I might be able to bring those forms to him to get signed, but there has to be some acceptable method for getting required signatures.

Another situation that HUD deals with specifically is military deployment. So when somebody is deployed on active duty, HUD has specific language to address this in paragraph 5-6c of the 4350 point three. HUD encourages you to be as lenient as is reasonable for rent. They may need to make arrangements to have the rent payments sent from their bank or something else, and sometimes delays can happen.

So you want to be as lenient as is reasonable with rent. They can appoint a caregiver for any minors that are left in the unit. You're going to treat those caregivers similar to live and aids, so you're going to screen them for criminal, but you're not going to count their income or expenses. And the tenant needs to make reasonable arrangements for certifications. That may mean you send them to them. It may mean somebody else has power of attorney to sign anything you need sign.

And this is in paragraph five dash six C of the HUD forty three fifty point three.

So that is going to do it for us today. We would love to hear what you would like to see us cover on the next Tuesday tips. You can notify Mary or me directly using our email, or you can go to the Navigate website and use the Contact Us submission form. We will see you on the next Tuesday tips.