NYCHA Terminated Section 8 Subsidy Without Proper Notice

Section 8 tenants notified landlord NYCHA that they were moving, and asked landlord to give a successor lease to their 12-year-old daughter. They also submitted a copy of a petition for a guardian to be appointed for the daughter, but it didn't indicate whether the court had received or approved it. The guardian moved into the apartment with her own family. Tenants argued that their Section 8 subsidy must continue because their daughter became the tenant through her succession rights. Landlord terminated the Section 8 subsidy and denied succession rights to the daughter based on tenants' failure to comply with recertification proceedings. Tenants appealed, claiming that landlord's decision was arbitrary and unreasonable. Tenants argued that landlord didn't give them proper notice of termination of the subsidy. The court ruled for tenants. There was no proof that landlord sent a warning letter by regular and certified mail, or that landlord complied with legal notice requirements before terminating the Section 8 subsidy. The court revoked NYCHA's decision and sent the case back for a new ruling.

Schoenwald v. NYCHA: NYLJ, 3/5/08, p. 27, col. 3 (Sup. Ct. NY; Goodman, J)