Landlord Must Recalculate Income of HUD Housing Applicant

Potential tenant applied for low-income HUD housing run by landlord. Landlord denied tenant's application, finding that his income level was too high. Tenant appealed landlord's decision. He claimed that landlord's method of calculating tenant's income was inaccurate. Landlord claimed that it followed the guidelines set forth in the HUD Handbook. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the case. The court ruled against landlord. Tenant was a seasonal worker. The HUD Handbook explained the methods of projecting and calculating annual income. Although the income used to calculate tenant's income was mathematically accurate, it wasn't a reliable approach to estimating what tenant would earn during the year. Although the method used to estimate anticipated income of a seasonal worker wasn't the easiest method, it was the most reliable and reasonable. It was arbitrary for landlord not to use the most reliable and reasonable method to calculate tenant's income. So landlord must recalculate tenant's income.

Noman v. Management, West 31st Street Apartments: NYLJ, 3/5/08, p. 27, col. 3 (Sup. Ct. NY; Tolub, J)