All Forum Posts by: Carl W.

Your applicant filed for rental assistance at their current address and their request was approved for the current address. I don't believe they are allowed to just move the money to any property they please and doing so would qualify as fraud (wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain). What if someone applied for rental assistance in New York City and get approved for $9,000 in assistance ($3,000 a month x 3 months) and then they transfer that money to a $1,000 apartment in Syracuse? 

You asked for advice but don't seem to like the answer, so I'll give you the best advice you could possibly receive: stop asking strangers on the internet for advice. Call your state ERAP office and get it straight from the horse's mouth.

This comes down to the rules of the program that is paying for rent.  To say with such clarity that the tenant is committing fraud is a bit overstated in my opinion.  I don't see where you listed the state or the program that made the payments and therefore we can only guess/speak in broad terms.  

We had this come up with a covid relief fund that a tenant was approved for and it included 3 months of future rent and the tenant moved out.  As this program tied the funds to the tenant and not the house (even though they paid the landlord (us)) it was 100% proper for the tenant to decide to move and ask us to forward the unused part of the future rent to the landlord where the tenant moved.  

@Carl W. No disrespect intended with this comment but If this was all above board, then why did he wait until after the signatures were dry before he told you about it? Your radar must be going off a little bit or you would not be here asking questions. I hope your tenant is legit and it all works out but I would be concerned. 

Hi Carl, I worked for a local nonprofit for 8 months in Central Oregon. I specifically worked in the office helping distribute rental assistance to tenants struggling to pay rent due to the pandemic. The most straight line way this process works is the assistance is paid directly to the landlord via checks. This can mean the current landlord or future landlord (and sometimes both for one applicant). 

There are many cases where the tenant is moving out of their current place in which that landlord had already received a lump sum of money for future months through the assistance program. The tenant’s current landlord is not allowed to keep the future money, hence it goes with the tenant to the new residence. Once my program paid out assistance and it reached the appropriate landlord, our fiscal team did not want to receive any checks back. New circumstances that arise are now in the hands of tenant/ landlord(s). My program did not have any hard or fast rules once the money left our office (which wouldn’t happen if the application seemed fraudulent).  In the situation you have presented, their current landlord could write the tenants a check with their leftover assistance amount, or give it to you directly. I don’t think what the tenants have told you is fraudulent. You could contact the assistance program office to see if this transfer is the best/ easiest way. 

I doubt many have heard of this because it's fraudulent. You're willing to rent to a tenant that is either very ignorant or they are willing to break the law to get what they want, both of which are red flags.

I would not rent to them, even if they could afford the place twice over.

The ability for the tenant to pay after "future rent" stops (generally a few few months) should be a red flag to you.  I would really make sure they are able to pay.  

I recommend you cancel this tenant immediately! When the tenant applies for rent, the payments go to their Landlord. That means the money goes to the Landlord they rented from at the time of application. The tenant and Landlord agree the money is to keep the tenant in that specific rental. 

I'm not aware of anything in the program that allows them to apply at one address, then take the money and spend it on a different address. If you want to even consider it, you need to contact the rental assistance program office and confirm this would be allowed. I doubt they allow it. You're taking the risk that the Tenant is telling the truth about their approval, that the former Landlord would send the money to you, and that it's all legal.