Will a Section 8 tenant lose his/her Section 8 for breaking lease

[Francis Agustin]

I had some disturbing issues from a neighbor.  First time I reported to the apartments office and they made rules-not on my lease. That if have past hours disturbances call the dispatch or the police.  Then later on this week when I finally fed up with the noises I have been dealing with since the last time I reported to the office, I emailed the manager.  

I went Yesterday, and I started to explained about the situations again and I also asked about my email if they got it.  But, I am not sure if the lady was a manager or another worker in the office because I always see 3 workers in the office and the new lady which I thought she was a manager. She was not on her desk, instead it was another lady which I spoke with her.

She told me that me and the lady on the first floor have been violating the rules to the apartments because we don't have peace with each other.  I was looking for a remedy for the situation I was in instead she told me this.

I don't agree with what she said because, I was the one who have been getting the disturbances.  The apartments manager to the apartments does not handle any kinds of issues that occur with tenants in day time.  She told me to call only the police when there is any kind of disturbances after midnight hours.

She said, if me and the tenant (lady) don't have peace with each other. We will sign some kind of paper then we will have a neighbor to neighbor meditation.  When I contacted my housing specialist about breaking a lease if I won't find any peace. She said I will loose my Section 8 if I break my lease.

[Patti Robertson]

@Francis Agustin - If a SEC 8 tenant gets evicted, they will lose their voucher, no matter what part of the country they live in. See the excerpt from the HUD website below. In order to get evicted though, the landlord would have to prove to a Judge that there was a lease violation that the tenant was notified of and failed to cure. While your lease may indicate that a tenant cannot create noise that harms the other residents ability to quite enjoyment of their units, this is hard to prove without a police enforcement. Most municipalities have noise restrictions. If noise is louder that certain decibels you can call the police who will measure the level of noise. If it is louder than allowed they will likely just warn the person with a first offense . If there are repeated violations the violator can get charged with a crime, but it likely just a misdemeanor. That may be enough to get an eviction, but only if the landlord is willing to take them to court. In most courtrooms, unless the noise violations were very serious, I don't think most Judges would order possession be given back to the landlord. Most Judges don't want to get involved in what appear to be petty domestic or civil disagreements.

If you cannot fix this with the tenant your best bet is to ask your landlord for a mutual early termination of your lease.  If you are driving them crazy enough with your complaints about the other tenant, they just might be willing to agree.  If the termination is mutually agreed upon, you will not be in violation of your housing voucher rules.  If, however, you abandon your property before the lease is terminate, you will be in violation of both your lease and the SEC 8 rules.  Your landlord will take you to court for the remaining balance of the lease, process a formal eviction, and you will lose your voucher, not only for your current county, but for the entire country.

The bottom line is you have three choices.  1) Make peace with the other tenant on your own.  2) Convince the rental office to do a mutual termination of your lease.  3) Grin and bear it until the end of your lease.