A.8.3.12 Lender Appeals of Prior Approval Decisions

A. If the lead lender disagrees with HUD’s determination with respect to a prior approval decision, the lender may appeal. Any such appeal must be filed within 30 days of the date of HUD’s written decision on the prior approval request and must be documented with an electronic, a hard original and one hard copy of the appeal.

1. The appeal should be filed with the same Regional Center/Satellite office to which the original request for prior approval was submitted. The Regional Center/Satellite will retain the original appeal with the docket file and forward the electronic and hard copies to the Director, Office of Multifamily Housing Production.

2. The lender’s appeal shall:

   • Cite the specific cause or issue which is the occasion of the appeal.

• State the specific change requested in the decision of the Technical Support Division.

• Cite any published guidance, standard industry underwriting practice, or evidence of error which supports the change.

Provide any other new or additional evidence not previously presented to HUD.

3. The Director of Multifamily Production must review the appeal and within 15 business days after receipt by HUD of the lender’s appeal (30 days if the lender’s appeal offers new or additional evidence not previously presented), the Director will prepare and send a written decision to the lender, with a copy to the Regional Center/Satellite Director.

4. When conducting the review of the appeal, the Director of Multifamily Production must ensure a wholly independent review and, except for ascertaining matters of fact, rely only on staff with no prior engagement or participation in the initial decision on the request for prior approval.

5. The decision of the Director of Multifamily Production on the appeal shall be dispositive and shall detail in writing the substance of and the reasons for any denial of the appeal or revision of any earlier decisions and will be posted to the same HUD Multifamily SharePoint site as original prior approval decisions.

6. The Multifamily Regional Center will retain the original of the appeal submission and related materials. If a lender’s appeal is approved, then the Regional Center will retain the original materials with the docket for the initial project application received pursuant to the prior approval. If denied, the submission must be retained consistent with the Regional Center’s practice for rejected project applications. The Office of Multifamily Production will retain the electronic version at headquarters.