The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) inspection process has undergone some important changes, and new rules took effect October 2, 2017.
This affects everyone working in HUD housing. Top housing management and owners, you’ll shell out some cash to render your property safe according to REAC standards. Property managers, you need to know how to prepare for an inspection that satisfies the inspector. Maintenance supervisors, your resources are limited so now more than ever you need to know where to pool those resources. Support staff, if you understand everyone’s role in the inspection process, you can smooth it out and facilitate a great result.
Plan for a Successful Inspection
Planning for an inspection takes a lot of work. Aside from notifying all the residents, and getting all of your paperwork in place (certificates for elevators, boilers, fire control systems, bed bug logs in place, etc.), you need to do your own inspection of REAC’s five inspectable areas (Site, Units, Building Exterior, Common Areas and Building Systems) to make sure you’re in compliance. HUD offers its own guidance concerning how to prepare for an inspection.
Each area brings a maximum amount of points to a score that can total 100. REAC’s goal is to assign a score to the property based on the true condition of the property at the time of the inspection as a “snapshot in time.” If you score between 31 and 59 twice in a row, you can expect to hear from the Departmental Enforcement Center (DEC) for further review and possible enforcement action.
Are you prepared to get a high score on your next REAC inspection? What could you do as part of your routine maintenance to better prepare for a visit from REAC? Not only do you have to maintain the five inspectable areas, but you have to be up on the new rules as well.
Some of the things you’ll need to consider in planning a successful inspection include:
- Understanding how inspectors are chosen and assigned inspections
- Role of supervisors and inspector’s responsibilities (business rules)
- Paperwork needed for an inspection, or for cancelling/postponing an inspection
- Processing repair work
- Choosing units/buildings for inspections
- What are uninspectable units
- The right and wrong way to escort an inspector
- What happens after the inspection, and when a score is issued
- What the 20 point rule is
- How to appeal for a reinspection
- Competent escorting/shadowing
The bottom line: You need to know the recent changes to how REAC conducts inspections and what it now expects of properties!
You Have Rights
While the inspection process may seem daunting, remember: You have rights as a property owner! Those rights include:
- Right to provide safe, decent housing free of excessive government interference
- Right to an inspection free from incompetence and bullying
- Right to equitable and fair treatment
- Right to disagree without fear of retaliation
- Right to be in control of time and pace of the inspection
- Right to know what the REAC inspector is inspecting
- Right to know what defects are being recorded
- Right to know the basis and rationale for recorded defects
- Right to an appeal of inspector errors, ownership issues, etc.
- Right to competent and timely written adjudication of appeal
Separate REAC Inspection Protocols exist for jurisdictions like New York’s NYCHA, and the Puerto Rico Housing Authority (PRHA), for example.
UPCS-V protocol
REAC had been tasked with applying the same inspection protocol to the voucher program, but instead developed a new inspection protocol, the UPCS-V protocol. A successor to the current Housing Quality Standards (HQS) inspections protocol, HUD states, “UPCS-V introduces new measures to enhance the consistency and objectivity of the inspection process, and will provide more information about the condition of individual housing units.” This was brought about because “Congress expressed the need to update the housing quality standards in order to reflect current advances in home inspections and changes to standards of health and safety threats in homes today.”
Furthermore, HUD clarifies, “Through this initiative, HUD aims to clarify and streamline inspection processes for PHAs and inspectors, while increasing owners’ and tenants’ access to detailed information about their homes.”
Learn About Recent REAC Changes
Property inspection expert Hank Vanderbeek covers important recent changes in the REAC inspection process with special focus on the new rules in an audio conference for AudioSolutionz, “REAC Inspection Revised Rules Effective October 2, 2017.” The session will include new items that are important in preparing for the inspection, including photos of new defects. Hank covers the scoring structure for the new rules, touches on important new developments with escort and the inspection protocol, addresses critical concerns such as aspects of your property’s maintenance staff, and answers questions related to UPCS inspections.
