Negotiations save housing

A Somalian immigrant is renting a unit in a HUD project-based complex. Being self-employed, our client’s income changes every so often and probably that has caused some inconvenience to the management since changes in income generally call for recalculation of rent.  The landlord had tried to evict her in December 2009, but didn’t pursue it to conclusion. The fact is that our client reported every change as required, but after some time, the manager sent her a bill for $1500 overpayment, followed by an eviction notice for nonpayment which our own calculations could not justify. 

We requested the landlord’s documents and found a nightmare of discrepancies.  Besides, word got to us that, during the eviction attempt in December 2009, the property manager had admitted to errors in their accounting affecting this tenant. Still, now the landlord would not back off, defended its position with zeal, and the negotiations involving, our client, our office, CAP, and management were going nowhere. Our client’s rent payments were being withheld in the meantime.

Julia Babilis arranged a meeting and finessed her way through a difficult negotiation involving complex federal regulations. At the end, what was on the table was an agreement whereby our client had to pay the rent owing less the landlord’s acknowledged overpayment of legal fees in the past.  The clients housing, and housing subsidy, were saved.  Kudos to Julia, and thanks Gloria for sharing this client's story.