7-15 Key Requirements

• A. If an owner determines that a tenant’s current dwelling unit is smaller or larger than appropriate as a result of a change in a tenant’s family size or composition, the owner must decide whether to require the tenant to transfer to another unit.

• B. Owners must not reduce or terminate the assistance payment associated with the original unit until the family has been offered a transfer to a unit of appropriate size and has been given sufficient time (no less than 30 days) to move to the new unit.

• C. In the case of a unit transfer, both the change in rent and change in the assistance payment are effective on the day the tenant actually occupies the new unit.

• D. Owners must develop additional unit transfer policies to address tenant transfer requests beyond those needed for change in family size, including transfers needed for medical reasons or to accommodate a person with a disability.

• E. Owners are obligated to transfer tenants to different units as a reasonable accommodation to a household member’s disability. For example, a tenant with a physical disability might need a transfer to an accessible unit, or a unit on the

HUD Multifamily Occupancy Handbook Chapter 7: Recertification, Unit Transfers, and Gross Rent Changes

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Section 3: Unit Transfers ground floor, or a larger unit to accommodate a live-in aide. Transfers which are needed as a reasonable accommodation should be made on a priority basis.