public-service · HUD subsidized tenancy termination rules
HUD-Subsidized Tenancies: No Termination Without Cause
Under 24 CFR 247.3-247.4, a landlord in HUD-subsidized housing may end a tenancy only for specific grounds, with a detailed written notice required.
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What matters now
- A HUD-subsidized landlord may terminate a tenancy only for one of a closed set of grounds under 24 CFR 247.3 — there is no general no-cause termination.
- Other good cause is a permitted ground, but only if the landlord gave prior written notice that the conduct could serve as a basis for termination.
- A termination based on material noncompliance or a failure to meet state landlord-tenant obligations that relies on a no-cause lease or state-law provision is void under the regulation.
- The termination notice must state a specific end date and reasons detailed enough for the tenant to prepare a defense, under 24 CFR 247.4.
No. Under 24 CFR 247.3, a landlord in a HUD-subsidized rental project cannot terminate a tenant’s tenancy except upon one of a closed list of grounds set out in the regulation. The regulation states: “The landlord may not terminate any tenancy in a subsidized project except upon the following grounds” (24 CFR 247.3) — a closed list that includes material noncompliance with the rental agreement, the tenant’s material failure to carry out obligations imposed by state landlord-tenant law, specified criminal or alcohol-abuse conduct, or “[o]ther good cause.”
A lease clause or state-law provision that would otherwise allow no-cause termination cannot be used to satisfy the material-noncompliance or state-law-obligation grounds on this list (24 CFR 247.3). The written notice ending the tenancy also has to identify a termination date and explain the reasons in enough detail for the tenant to respond (24 CFR 247.4).
This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.
Key points
- Closed grounds for termination: no general no-cause termination is allowed.
- Advance notice for good cause: the “other good cause” ground requires prior written notice.
- No-cause clauses are void: a no-cause lease or state-law provision can’t satisfy the noncompliance-based grounds.
- Termination notice requirements: the notice must state a date and give reasons detailed enough to respond.
Closed grounds for termination
Section 247.3 does not leave termination decisions to the landlord’s discretion. It opens by stating flatly: “The landlord may not terminate any tenancy in a subsidized project except upon the following grounds” (24 CFR 247.3).
The grounds that follow cover material noncompliance with the rental agreement, the tenant’s material failure to carry out obligations under state landlord-tenant law, specified criminal activity or alcohol abuse, and a catch-all category the regulation itself labels “Other good cause” (24 CFR 247.3). Because the list is closed, a reason that doesn’t fit one of these categories cannot support a lawful termination of a subsidized tenancy.
Advance notice for good cause
The “other good cause” ground is not an open door for the landlord to invoke after the fact. The regulation ties it to advance warning: a termination on this ground is only valid where “the landlord has given the tenant prior notice that said conduct shall henceforth constitute a basis for termination of occupancy” (24 CFR 247.3). In other words, the landlord has to put the tenant on notice that a particular kind of conduct will count against them going forward, before that conduct can be used as the basis for ending the tenancy.
No-cause clauses are void
Some leases or state landlord-tenant statutes allow a landlord to end a tenancy at the close of a term without giving any reason at all. For terminations based on material noncompliance with the rental agreement or the tenant’s failure to meet state landlord-tenant obligations, that option does not carry over into HUD-subsidized housing. The regulation says directly: “No termination by a landlord under paragraph (a)(1) or (2) of this section shall be valid to the extent it is based upon a rental agreement or a provision of state law permitting termination of a tenancy without good cause” (24 CFR 247.3). A termination notice for either of those two grounds that points only to a no-cause lease provision or a no-cause state-law rule is void under this section.
Termination notice requirements
Even where the landlord has a valid ground, the written notice itself has to meet two specific content requirements under 24 CFR 247.4. It must “State that the tenancy is terminated on a date specified therein” (24 CFR 247.4), so the tenant knows the exact date the tenancy ends rather than a vague or open-ended timeframe. It must also “state the reasons for the landlord’s action with enough specificity so as to enable the tenant to prepare a defense” (24 CFR 247.4). A notice that names a termination date but gives only a vague or conclusory reason does not satisfy this requirement, because the tenant would not have enough information to respond to the specific allegation.
Outside this explainer’s scope
This article only addresses what 24 CFR 247.3 and 247.4 themselves settle about ending a tenancy in a HUD-subsidized rental project. It does not address which buildings actually qualify as “subsidized projects” in the first place — that threshold question is defined elsewhere in the same part, at 24 CFR 247.2. It also does not cover public housing, which is governed by a separate HUD regulation, 24 CFR part 966, rather than part 247. Tenancies that are not HUD-subsidized at all — ordinary private-market rentals — are outside this rule entirely. Finally, this article does not predict how a court or hearing officer would rule on any particular tenant’s facts; the closed list of grounds and the notice-content requirements described here are the legal framework a case would be measured against, not a substitute for that case-by-case determination.