Section 8 housing - CC&R restriction

Started by MarkW13 • 5 replies • 2496 views

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MarkW13 (Nevada)
Posts: 1

Posted:

Our community is gated with security guards.

It has been brought to our attention Section 8 housing is infiltrating our area.

There are no current CC&R rent restriction.

I asked the board if we could adopt a bi-law restricting Section 8 housing.

The board stated, since there were no original rent restrictions new bi-laws cannot limit Section 8 housing claiming state law (NRS 116.335).

I have read this law and not being a lawyer don't see what they are referencing.

We are the community. The home owners request this addition to the bi-laws.

Can someone please comment on this or is the board just blowing us a smoke screen?

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

Mark,

I am not an attorney and I do not work in the legal profession. I am offering an opinion based on what you provided, personal experiences, my understanding of any research done and, hopefully, some common sense.

You can't simply prohibit section 8 rentals. You must prohibit rentals period.

If you only prohibit renting to a specific class of people, you will likely be in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act or some other Federal or State discrimination law. See gosection8.com

Per NRS 116.335, rental restrictions must be in place at the time the unit/lot was purchased. This is likely what your Board was referring to.

If you adopt rental restrictions now, they would only apply to owners who purchase after the rental restrictions were adopted. Anyone who currently owns would still be able to rent.

NOTE In order to be enforceable, the rental restrictions must be within the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs), also known as the deed restrictions.

Amending the deed restrictions are typically extremely difficult as they require a large number of the membership (typically 2/3) to agree to the amendment.

I hope this helps,

Tim

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

Here are a few articles that may be interesting to you:

Can Association Prohibit Section 8 Tenants? 2012 article in the Orlando Sentential

Why does the mention of Section 8 tenants panic some communities? 2012 article in the Sun Sentential

WHAT DOES SECTION 8 MEAN FOR YOUR COMMUNITY? (pdf document) 2009 attorney newsletter

Your Association Can Prohibit Low-Income Rentals, But Should It? 2014 SC legal blog This article provides the following paragraph [emphasis added] that I believe sums up the whole issue:

Many people feel that discrimination based on income should be illegal. Naturally, restrictions on Section 8 tenants may result in “bad-will” for the association. Most importantly, such restriction may lead to complaints claiming discrimination. While such complaints, under the current law, will most likely be dismissed, the possibility of triggering them should be a consideration of the community when deciding whether to amend.

JohnB26 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,001

Posted:

Should your 'section 8' ban have a disparate impact on a protected class you WILL be facing HUD enforcement action.

? fair ?

! it is the law !

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Section 8 or not it is the homeowner's responsibility to maintain the property as required by the CC&R's, this includes their tenants no matter who they rent to.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

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