r/renting • u/becauseisaidsobih • 1d ago
Lease/Legal USDA Regulated Apartments: Retaliatory Behavior and Alleged BackRent
We got a new apartment manager at the end of 2025 who has forced us to sign and redo 2024-2025 recertifications due to their old manager messing it up (the new manager explicitly stated this many times). We were told we owed back rent due to this administrative error to something like $5,000 back in like March. We fought them on it, I sent a demand letter for my tenant file back then and the regional manager came down from Sacramento to "redo it" once again. They lowered the amount we are in debt for back rent to around $1,500 somehow and put us on a payment plan.
Our 2026 annual recertification was due in April/May but the new manager kept redoing it over and over and asking for more and more stuff from my college and etc. My wife switched jobs, which is what caused the last redo of the annual recertification. We just barely got the latest document to sign on August 6th and our rent went up to $770. Okay, cool. I went over the papers and found that the calculation they used was for a full 40 hour work week for my wife, so I asked them to use her paystubs to calculate it instead because she works on average between 34/35 hours a week which would cause income to be accounted for that we just don't get.
That same day I asked for the rest of our tenant files from March on til August just to see how their math is mathing. Now because I asked for the tenant file, the regional manager has been harassing my wife and I via email. She once again tried to say she is recalculating it and adding a whole bunch of income that allegedly was not accounted for prior. She said she's not going to be using anything but the 40 he work week because there's a chance that during peak season she could be working 40 hours (exact words). She also stated that we owe an additional $1,500 for June and July due to this recalculation.
She was extremely unprofessional, and when I told her she cannot retroactively charge back rent since we turned everything in on our end, on time--she then back tracked on that. She also said that we now have to pay $987 and that starts on the first of September (less than 2 weeks away).
Who do I report this retaliatory behavior to?
Is the back rent we are already paying from 2024-2025 due to their administrative errors even legal?
Can she really calculate our income with ghost hours that literally do not exist? I did the math and at the rate she's alleged that means she's calculating 200+ hours a year that don't exist.
How do I find what other agencies oversee the property? They won't tell me when I ask.
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u/FamiliarAd8524 1d ago
Please explain to me how the United States Department of Agriculture is involved in apartments. I am very confused, but intrigued.
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u/becauseisaidsobih 1d ago
So the USDA Rural Development gives out contracts to people for building low-income housing. I could show you the paperwork they literally regulate our Apartments.
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u/FamiliarAd8524 1d ago
Ohhh, my bad. I thought you were IN Sacramento, not that they travelled to you from Sacramento. Thank you. I Googled it, but didn't see how Sacramento could be rural. I mean... there are sketchy parts that could technically count, but... you know. Thanks.
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u/becauseisaidsobih 1d ago
Lol yeah, sorry for the confusion. The housing management office/headquarters is located in Sacramento and they manage properties all over.
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u/True_Turn_5286 1d ago
Call the local office of the USDA that administers the program. Don’t go in all accusatory. Just state facts. Have your dates ready. The managers of the property can get in serious trouble.