§ 3560.454 Special servicing actions related to housing operations. ( a ) *Changing rents or revising budgets.* The Agency may approve a borrower request for a rent change, rent incentives, or a revised budget, at any time during a housing project's fiscal year.
( b ) *Occupancy waivers.* If the Agency determines that a housing project with high vacancies could be kept operationally and financially viable by allowing the borrower to accept as tenants persons with incomes above the income eligibility standards specified in § 3560.152(a), the Agency, in writing, may grant the borrower an occupancy waiver to allow such persons as tenants. Occupancy waivers will be in effect only during the time period specified by the Agency when the waiver is granted. In addition, borrowers must rent to all eligible applicants on the housing projects waiting list prior to accepting persons with incomes above the Agency standards as tenants.
( c ) *Additional rental assistance (RA).* If the Agency determines that a housing project with high vacancies could be kept operationally and financially viable by increasing the amount of RA allocated to the housing project, the Agency, subject to available funds, may offer the housing project RA as a means of preventing or correcting a compliance violation or curing a default.
( d ) *Special note rents.* When a Plan II housing project is experiencing severe vacancies due to market conditions, the Agency may approve a rent less than the note rent to attract and keep tenants whose incomes, according to the formula in § 3560.203, would require them to pay the note rent. The reduced rent is called a Special Note Rent (SNR) and, as noted in § 3560.210, approval of an SNR may affect approvals of loan proposals submitted to the Agency for the market area where the SNR is in effect. ( 1 ) An SNR rent may only be requested as a part of a proposed workout agreement and must include documentation of market conditions, the housing project's vacancy rates, evidence of marketing efforts, and other concerns necessitating the request for an SNR.
( 2 ) Borrowers must forego the annual return to owner for each housing project's fiscal year that an SNR is in effect for all or part of a fiscal year at a housing project.
( 3 ) SNR's may be increased, decreased, or terminated any time during a housing project's fiscal year when market conditions, vacancy rates, or other concerns that necessitated the SNR warrant a change.
( 4 ) In addition to any state lease law requirements that might be related to the implementation of an SNR, the borrower must notify each tenant of any change in rents or utility allowances that result from approval of an SNR, in accordance with § 3560.205(c) and must submit the appropriate budget changes to the Agency for approval.
( e ) *Termination of management agreement.* If the Agency determines that a compliance violation or loan default was caused, in full or in part, by actions or inactions of the housing project's management agent, the Agency will require the borrower to terminate the management agreement with that agent, or in the case of a borrower managed housing project, to enter an agreement with a third-party non-identity of interest management agent, unless the borrower and the Agency agree on a written plan to prevent reoccurrence of the violation. Housing project funds may not be used to pay a management fee to a management agent after the Agency has directed the borrower to terminate a management agreement with that agent, except during an Agency approved transition period.