Unit Rent Determinations

Moving to a New Unit

Once a completed RTA (Request for Tenancy Approval) has been submitted, the Contracting and Leasing Department will contact the landlord and provide them with an upfront rental quote.

  • If the rent quote is accepted, the unit will be scheduled for inspection. The inspector will inspect the unit in accordance with AMHA’s approved inspection standards.
  • If the rent quote is declined, the client will be contacted to pick up a new RTA if eligible.

Once the unit passes inspection, the landlord will be contacted to finalize the rental offer, and find out when the client is going to receive the keys to the unit, which is when the contract will become effective, subject to completion of documents. Per the Family Obligations, the utilities are to be transferred at the time of contract.

Change in Rent for Current Unit

If a landlord wishes to alter the approved contract rent, he/she is required to notify AMHA at least 60 days before the proposed change will go into effect. Any requested change will be subject to rent reasonableness requirements and a rent review may not be conducted more than once every 12 months. Since rent reviews are determined by the required rent reasonableness, a request for a rent increase may result in a rent decrease.

General Information

The Department of HUD issues a new Payment Standard Schedule during October or November of every year. The Financial Analyst reviews the payment standards and the new rates go into effect in January of each year for re-examinations and new contracts.

Utility allowances impact rent determinations. Under Section 242 of the 2014 Appropriations Act, the utility allowance for a family shall be the lower of:

  1. The utility allowance amount for the family unit size; or
  2. The utility allowance amount for the unit size of the unit rented by the family.

However, upon the request of a family that includes a person with disabilities, the PHA must approve a utility allowance higher than the applicable amount if such a higher utility allowance is needed as a reasonable accommodation in accordance with HUD’s regulations in 24 CFR part 8 to make the program accessible to and usable by the family member with a disability.