Notices To ALL Applicants Undergoing Certification With SEB Housing

Every other week, SEB will send the Leasing Office a list of households that (as far as SEB knows) need to complete the recertification process. This list will contain BOTH (a) households with reservations for vacated units who need to complete their recertification within 10 days and (b) current tenants whose current leases are about to expire. Every household on the list should be sent a notice every week. Additionally, households who have missed a deadline need to be notified of the repercussions of missing that deadline. SEB will already be sending notifications to these households, but oftentimes applicants will take a notice from the Leasing Office more seriously than a note from SEB so this is an important task and should only take a few minutes each week.

REMINDER NOTICES

For NEW APPLICANTS, create a generic email that you can send out once a week by bcc’ing all the new applicants who haven’t completed the certification process. It should simply note that they have X days from the date of reservation to complete their certification (refer to the Rental Application Addendum for the amount of time, if you are using SEB’s notice, it will be 10 days) or they will lose their reservation.

For CURRENT TENANTS whose lease is expiring in 60-120 days, you should send out a weekly reminder (by bcc’ing all those households) that they must complete the recertification process by 60 days prior to lease expiration or their unit will go to market-rate rent (and if they stay in the unit, you will need to make the next available market-rate unit with the same number of bedrooms an affordable unit).

MISSED DEADLINE NOTICES

For NEW APPLICANTS who do not complete their Certification with SEB within 10 days, send them a notice that they are being released from their Reservation. Often times, this will make a reluctant applicant rush to complete their certification with SEB. You can choose to rescind the notice and let them keep their reservation so long as they complete the process within a set amount of time (i.e. 48 hours), just be sure to have an established standard for your “grace period” and apply the same standard to everyone.

For CURRENT TENANTS who are 59 days from lease expiration but have not completed their Recertification with SEB, send them a notice that at the end of their lease term their rent is going to market-rate rent and list what that rent is. This is the single most important tool you have in getting households to complete the process. Often times, this will make a reluctant applicant rush to complete their certification with SEB. You can choose to rescind the notice and let them keep their reservation so long as they complete the process within a set amount of time (i.e. 48 hours), just be sure to have an established standard for your “grace period” and apply the same standard to everyone. And for ANY unit that you change to market-rate rent, you must lease the next market-rate unit with the same number of bedrooms at an affordable rent to a certified tenant (ask SEB if you need more details).