Housing Authority wants to recapture rent

[Roy Lam]

Last June in 2015 I received a letter from both the Housing Authoirity and my tenant saying that my tenant will be moving by August 31th, 2015.  On August 1st, when I went to collect the rent from my tenant, she told me that she will be moving on the 3rd of August to a house in Lancaster, CA, so she would only pay me two days of rent.  Of course I disagreed and demanded the full rent since she did not give me 30 days of notice.  I also received another portion of rent from Housing authority in Los Angeles, CA on her behalf.  I told her I can refund her part of the rent if I rent out the unit early.  She would not and did not give the keys back to me until August 31st.

Last December I got a letter from the Housing authority in the Palmdale, CA office saying they want me to pay back the rent because my unit was vacated and they don't pay for empty unit.  I spent the whole month trying to contact someone to explain to them and explain what happened.  Just like any government offices, it was a wild goose chase, they either tell me to call this number, call that number, or leave a message.  I finally talked to the person who sent me the letter, and I wrote her a letter explained the whole situation that happened.  Three weeks after I mailed the letter, I heard nothing so I called again, The person who sent me the letter told me she received the letter, but she cannot do anything about it.  I said before you send out the recapture of paytment letter, are you suppose to investigate, look at proofs or receipts and most of all, ask question?  Instead I got the letter saying if I don't pay by a certain date, they will turn this over to a collection agency.  WHAT A THREAT  She said she followed every procedures and I have to call her supervisor.  She got me into this and she she could just walk away from it. I guess this is what they call OUR TAX AT WORK.i 

I finally talked to her supervisor and sent him e-mails and text messages to prove that my tenant kept the keys until August 31st.