Improperly advanced or incorrectly assigned Rental Assistance is unauthorized assistance recoverable under subpart O, and the borrower repays it except in certain cases of tenant error or fraud

rd521.subsidy_calculation.improperly_advanced_rental_assistance_is_unauthorized_assistance · v1.0.0

Rental Assistance paid where it should not have been is not written off, it is recovered. Improperly advanced RHS rental assistance resulting from TENANT OR BORROWER error or fraud constitutes unauthorized assistance and the provisions of subpart O apply. Rental Assistance that was INCORRECTLY ASSIGNED - out of the 7 CFR 3560.257(a) priority order, or to a household not meeting the 7 CFR 3560.254(c) conditions - is itself viewed as unauthorized assistance and handled the same way. The default payer is the borrower: borrowers are required to repay the Agency for any unauthorized RA received or any unauthorized use of RA, EXCEPT IN CERTAIN CASES OF TENANT ERROR OR FRAUD. So a misassignment the borrower made is the borrower's to repay even where the tenant was blameless, and the tenant-fault carve-out is an exception the borrower must establish rather than a default allocation.

Confidence

high

Effective from

2004-11-26

Consequence model

agency finding with cure

Last reviewed

2026-09-02