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§ 10337. Compliance.

4 CA ADC § 10337Barclays Official California Code of RegulationsEffective: January 24, 2024

Barclays California Code of Regulations

Title 4. Business Regulations

Division 17. California Tax Credit Allocation Committee Regulations Implementing the Federal and State Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Laws

Chapter 1. Federal and State Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

Effective: January 24, 2024

4 CCR § 10337

§ 10337. Compliance.

Currentness

(a) Regulatory Agreement. All recipients of Tax Credits, whether Federal only, or both Federal and State, are required to execute a regulatory agreement, as a condition to the Committee's making an allocation, which will be recorded against the property for which the Tax Credits are allocated, and, if applicable, will reflect all scoring criteria proposed by the applicant in the competition for Federal and/or State housing Credit Ceiling.

(1) For all projects receiving a reservation of competitive 9% federal tax credits on or after January 1, 2016 for which all general partners will be Qualified Nonprofit Organizations, the partnership agreement shall include a Right of First Refusal (“ROFR”) for one or more of the nonprofit general partners to purchase the project after the end of the 15-year federal compliance period. The price to purchase the project under this ROFR shall be the minimum price allowed under IRC Section 42(i) plus any amounts required to be paid to the tax credit investors that remain unpaid for approved Asset Management Fees and required payments under the limited partnership agreement for tax credit adjusters that remain outstanding at the time of the sale. The applicant shall demonstrate compliance with this requirement prior to the issuance of the 8609 forms.

(2) For all projects receiving a reservation of 4% and 9% federal tax credits on or after January 1, 2016, the regulatory agreement shall require written approval of the Executive Director for any Transfer Event.

(3) Where a Project is receiving renewable project-based rental assistance or operating subsidy:

(A) the owner shall in good faith apply for and accept all renewals available;

(B) if the project-based rental assistance or operating subsidy is terminated through no fault of the owner, the property owner shall notify CTCAC in writing immediately and shall make every effort to find alternative subsidies or financing structures that would maintain the deeper income targeting contained in the recorded CTCAC regulatory agreement. Upon documenting to CTCAC's satisfaction unsuccessful efforts to identify and obtain alternative resources, the owner may increase rents and income targeting for Low-Income Units above the levels allowed by the recorded regulatory agreement up to the federally-permitted maximum. Rents shall be raised only to the extent required for Financial Feasibility, as determined by CTCAC. Where possible, remedies shall include skewing rents higher on portions of the project in order to preserve affordability for units regulated by CTCAC at extremely low income targeting. Any necessary rent increases shall be phased in as gradually as possible, consistent with maintaining the project's Financial Feasibility. If housing Special Needs populations, the property owner shall attempt to minimize disruption to existing households, and transition to non-Special Needs households only as necessary and upon vacancy whenever possible.

(4) All projects that receive a reservation of Tax Credits on or after January 1, 2017 and that involve a leasehold interest shall, in addition to the regulatory agreement, execute a lease rider which shall be recorded in the County Recorder's Office for which the project is located.

(b) Responsibility of owner.

(1) Compliance. All compliance requirements monitored by the Committee shall be the responsibility of the project owner. Project owners are required to annually certify tenant incomes in conformance with IRS regulation § 1.42-5(c)(3) unless the project is a 100 percent (100%) tax credit property exempted under IRC Section 142(d)(3)(A). Owners of a 100% tax credit property must perform a first annual income recertification in addition to the required initial move-in certification. After initial move-in certification and first annual recertification, owners of 100% tax credit properties may discontinue obtaining income verifications. Owners of 100% tax credit properties must continue to check for full-time student status of all households during the entire tenancy of the households and throughout the initial compliance period, and continue recordkeeping in accordance with paragraph (1) of this subsection. These requirements continue if the tax credit property is sold, transferred, or under new management. Any failure by the owner to respond to compliance reports and certification requirements will be considered an act of noncompliance and shall be reported to the IRS if reasonable attempts by the Committee to obtain the information are unsuccessful.

(2) Accessible Units: Reasonable Accommodations. All new and existing Tax Credit projects with fully accessible units for occupancy by persons with mobility impairments or hearing, vision or other sensory impairments shall provide a preference for those units as follows.

(A) First, to a current occupant of another unit of the same project having handicaps requiring the accessibility features of the vacant unit and occupying a unit not having such features, or if no such occupant exists, then

(B) Second, to an eligible qualified applicant on the waiting list having a handicap requiring the accessibility features of the vacant unit.

When offering an accessible unit to an applicant not having handicaps requiring the accessibility features of the unit, the owner or manager shall require the applicant to agree (and may incorporate this agreement in the lease) to move to a non-accessible unit when available.

Owners and managers shall adopt suitable means to assure that information regarding the availability of accessible units reaches eligible individuals with handicaps, and shall take reasonable nondiscriminatory steps to maximize the utilization of such units by eligible individuals whose disability requires the accessibility features of the particular unit.

(3) Homeless youth and federal student rule. After the 15-year federal compliance period has lapsed, units in a special needs project designated at reservation for homeless youth may be occupied entirely by full-time students who are not dependents of another individual.

(4) Prohibition against requiring tenants to participate in services. All new and existing Tax Credit projects are prohibited from requiring tenants to participate in services, unless the tenant occupies a unit assisted with a federal source that requires tenant participation in services.

(c) Compliance monitoring procedure. As required by Section 42(m), allocating agencies are to follow a compliance monitoring procedure to monitor all Credit projects for compliance with provisions of Section 42. Compliance with Section 42 is the sole responsibility of the owner of the building for which the Credit is allowable. The Committee's obligation to monitor projects for compliance with the requirements of Section 42 does not place liability on the Committee for any owner's noncompliance, nor does it relieve the owner of its responsibility to comply with Section 42.

(1) Record keeping. The owner of a Credit project is required to keep records for each qualified low income building in the project for each year in the compliance period showing: the total number of residential rental units in the building (including the number of bedrooms, and unit size in square feet); the percentage of Low-Income and Market Rate Units in the building that are Low-Income Units; the rent charged for each Low-Income Unit; a current utility allowance as specified in 26 CFR Section 142.10(c) and Section 10322(h)(21) of these regulations (for buildings using an energy consumption model utility allowance, that allowance must be calculated using the most recent version of the CUAC); the number of household members in each Low-Income Unit; notation of any vacant Low-Income Units; move-in dates for all Low-Income Units; low-income tenants' (i.e., household) income; documentation to support each low-income household's income certification; the eligible basis and qualified basis of the building at the end of the first year of the Credit period; and, the character and use of any nonresidential portion of the building included in the building's eligible basis.

Upon request, scattered site projects shall make these records available for inspection by CTCAC staff at a single location.

(2) Record Retention. For each qualified low-income building in the project, and for each year of the compliance period, owners and the Committee are required to retain records of the information described above in “record keeping requirements.”

(A) Owners shall retain documents according to the following schedule:

(i) for at least six years following the due date (with extensions) for filing the Federal income tax return for that year (for each year except the first year of the Credit period); and,

(ii) for the first year of the Credit period, at least six years following the due date (with extensions) for filing the Federal income tax return for the last year of the compliance period of the building.

(iii) for local health, safety, or building code violation reports or notices issued by a state or local governmental entity, until the Committee has inspected the reports or notices and completes the tenant file and unit inspections and the violation has been corrected. This subsection shall take effect beginning January 1, 2001.

(B) The Committee shall retain records of noncompliance, or failure to certify, for at least six years beyond the Committee's filing of the respective IRS noncompliance Form 8823. Should the Committee require submission of copies of tenant certifications and records, it shall retain them for three years from the end of the calendar year it receives them. Should it instead review tenant files at the management office of the subject project, it shall retain its review notes and any other pertinent information for the same three-year period. The Committee shall retain all other project documentation for the same three-year period.

(3) Certification requirements. Under penalty of perjury, a Credit project owner is required to annually, during each year of the compliance period, meet the certification requirements of U.S. Treasury Regulations 26 CFR 1.42-5(c), (including certifications that no finding of discrimination under the Fair Housing Act, 42 USC 3601 occurred for the project), that the buildings and low income units in the project were suitable for occupancy taking into account local health, safety, and building codes , that no violation reports were issued for any building or low income unit in the property by the responsible state or local government unit, that the owner did not refuse to lease a unit to an applicant because the applicant had a section 8 voucher or certificate, and that except for transitional or single room occupancy housing, all low income units in the project were used on a nontransient basis. The following must also be certified to by the owner:

(A) the project met all terms and conditions recorded in its Regulatory Agreement, if applicable;

(B) the applicable fraction (as defined in IRC Section 42(c)(1)(B)) met all requirements of the Credit allocation as specified on IRS Form(s) 8609 (Low-Income Housing Credit Allocation Certification.);

(D) the project has not been notified by the IRS that it is no longer a “qualified low-income housing project” within the meaning of Section 42 of the IRC;

(E) no additional tax-exempt bond funds or other Federal grants or loans with interest rates below the applicable Federal rate have been used in the Project since it was placed-in-service; and,

(F) report the number of units that were occupied by Credit eligible households during the reporting period.

(G) the services specified in the Regulatory Agreement were provided to the tenants during the reporting period.

(H) if the project is subject to a cash flow limitation in its Regulatory Agreement, that the limitation has been met.

(4) Status report, file and on site physical inspection. The Committee or its agent will conduct file and on site physical inspections for all projects no later than the end of the second calendar year following the year the last building in the project is placed-in-service, and once every three years thereafter. These physical inspections will be conducted for all buildings and common areas in each project, and for at least 20% of the low-income units in each project. The tenant file reviews will also be for at least 20% of the low-income units in each project, but may be conducted on site or off site. Each year the Committee shall select projects for which site inspections will be conducted. The projects shall be selected using guidelines established by the Executive Director for such purpose, while the units and tenant records to be inspected shall be randomly selected. Advance notice shall not be given of the Committee's selection process, or of which tenant records will be inspected at selected projects; however, an owner shall be given reasonable notice prior to a project inspection.

(A) A Notice of Intent to Conduct Compliance Inspection and a Project Status Report (PSR) form will be delivered to the project owner within a reasonable period before an inspection is scheduled to occur. The completed PSR form shall be submitted to the Committee by the owner prior to the compliance inspection. The Committee will review the information submitted on the PSR for compliance with income, rent and other requirements prior to performing the tenant file inspection.

(B) Each project undergoing a file inspection will be subject to a physical inspection to assure compliance with local health, safety, and building codes or with HUD's uniform physical condition standards. Owners shall be notified of the inspection results.

(C) The Committee may perform its status report, file inspection procedures and physical inspection on Credit projects even if other governmental agencies also monitor those projects. The Committee's reliance on other review findings may alter the extent of the review, solely at the Committee's discretion and as allowed by IRS regulations. The Committee may rely on reports of site visits prepared by lenders or other governmental agencies, at its sole discretion. The Committee shall, whenever possible, coordinate its procedures with those of other agencies, lenders and investors.

(5) Notification of noncompliance. The Committee shall notify owners in writing if the owner is required to submit documents/information related to either the physical or tenant file inspection. If the Committee does not receive the information requested, is not permitted or otherwise is unable to conduct the inspections or discovers noncompliance with Section 42 as a result of its review, the owner shall be notified in writing before any notice is sent to the IRS.

(6) Correction period. It is the intention of the Committee that owners be given every reasonable opportunity to correct any noncompliance. Owners shall be allowed an opportunity to supply missing tenant file documents or to correct other noncompliance within a correction period no longer than ninety (90) days from the date of written notice by the Committee to the owner, unless the violation constitutes an immediate health or safety issue, in which case, the correction should be made immediately. With good cause, the Committee may grant up to a six-month extension of the correction period upon receipt of a written justification from the owner.

(7) IRS and FTB notification. All instances of noncompliance, whether corrected or not, shall be reported by the Committee to the IRS. This shall be done within forty-five (45) days following the termination of a correction period allowed by the Committee, pertaining to IRS Form 8823.

(d) Change in ownership and property management. It is the project owner's responsibility to comply with the requirements of Section 10320(b) and to inform the Committee of any change in the project owner's mailing address.

(1) Any property management change during the 15-year federal compliance and extended use period must be to a party earning equal capacity points pursuant to Section 10325(c)(1)(A) as the exiting property management company. At a minimum this must be six (6) projects in service more than three years, or the demonstrated training required under Section 10326(g)(5). Two of the six projects must be Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects in California. If the new property management company does not meet these experience requirements, then substitution of property management shall not be permitted.

(e) First year's 8609. Project owners shall be required to submit a copy of the executed first year's filing of IRS Form 8609 (Low-Income Housing Credit Allocation Certification) for inclusion in the Committee's permanent project records.

(f)(1) CTCAC may establish a schedule of fines for violations of the terms and conditions, the regulatory agreement, other agreements, or program regulations. In developing the schedule of fines, CTCAC shall establish the fines for violations in an amount up to five hundred dollars ($500) per violation or double the amount of the financial gain because of the violation, whichever is greater. Except for serious violations, a first-time property owner violator shall be given at least 30 days to correct the violation before a fine is imposed. A violation that has occurred for some time prior to discovery is one violation, but fines may be a recurring amount if the violation is not corrected within a reasonable period of time thereafter, as determined by the Committee.

(2) CTCAC shall adopt and may revise the schedule of fines by resolution at a public general Committee meeting.

(3) A person or entity subject to a fine may appeal the fine to the Executive Director and, thereafter, to the Committee pursuant to Section 10330(b)(2).

(4) The Executive Director may approve a payment plan for any fines.

(5) If a fine assessed against a property owner is not paid within six months from the date when the fine was initially assessed and after reasonable notice has been provided to the property owner, the Committee may record a lien against the property. If the violation(s) for which the fine(s) is assessed is not corrected within 90 days of the assessed fine, the Committee may record a lien against the property.

(6) Reoccurring or repeated noncompliance -- CTCAC shall issue fines of up to $500 per instance of repeated or reoccurring noncompliance violations noted in separate monitoring cycles. CTCAC defines repeated or reoccurring violations as 25% or more instances of the current monitoring inspection having the same noncompliance issues as found in the previous monitoring cycle.

Areas of repeated or reoccurring noncompliance include (but are not limited to):

(A) Repeat Uniform Physical Condition Standards (UPCS) Health and Safety Violations and Common Area Violations

(B) Reoccurring patterns of units not turn-key ready and advertised within 60 days of unit vacancy date

(D) Reoccurring misuse of Utility Allowance methods

(E) Reoccurring patterns of over-income households

(F) Reoccurring patterns of over-charged rents

(G) Reoccurring patterns of incomplete or missing re-certifications

(H) Service Amenities not provided within Federal Compliance periods

(g) Housing Supplier Diversity Reporting. A housing sponsor that receives a tax credit reservation on or after January 1, 2024, shall annually submit a report to CTCAC, in a form that CTCAC shall require, and at the time that CTCAC shall annually designate. The reporting period shall cover all contract activities directly related to the development and construction of a housing project from the first day following the credit reservation date with an option for the housing sponsor to include prior contracting activities. The final report shall cover the year that the project is placed in service. The report shall include information, as required in Section 50199.23 of the Health and Safety Code and as outlined in the CTCAC Housing Supplier Diversity Reporting Guidelines: Completing the Housing Supplier Diversity Annual Report.

Credits

Note: Authority cited: Section 50199.17, Health and Safety Code. Reference: Sections 12206, 17058 and 23610.5, Revenue and Taxation Code; and Sections 50199.4, 50199.5, 50199.6, 50199.7, 50199.8, 50199.9, 50199.10, 50199.11, 50199.12, 50199.13, 50199.14, 50199.15, 50199.16, 50199.17, 50199.18, 50199.20, 50199.21, 50199.22 and 50199.23, Health and Safety Code.

History

1. New section filed 8-19-97; operative 2-18-97 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 97, No. 34).

2. Editorial correction of subsections (c)(4)(C) and (e) (Register 98, No. 30).

3. Amendment of subsections (c)(2)(B) and (c)(3)(B) and new subsection (f) filed 7-21-98; operative 11-20-97 and 12-11-97 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 98, No. 30).

4. Amendment of subsections (a), (c), (c)(3)(D), (c)(3)(F), (c)(4) and (c)(4)(B)-(C) and new subsection (c)(4)(D) filed 7-26-99; operative 6-3-99 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 99, No. 31).

5. Readoption of emergency action filed 7-26-99, operative 6-3-99; filed 4-3-2000 as an emergency; operative 10-12-99 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 2000, No. 14).

6. Readoption of emergency action filed 4-3-2000, operative 10-12-99; filed 4-3-2000 as an emergency; operative 2-9-2000 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17, with amendment of section (Register 2000, No. 14).

7. Emergency readoption without change filed 9-22-2000 of an action originally filed 4-3-2000; operative 6-9-2000 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 2000, No. 38).

8. Emergency readoption without change filed 10-23-2000 of an action originally filed 4-3-2000; operative 9-27-2000 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 2000, No. 43).

9. Emergency amendment effective pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 upon adoption by the Committee on February 16, 2001, filed with the Secretary of State on March 5, 2001 (Register 2001, No. 10). Editor's Note: On December 20, 2000, the Committee adopted and made effective an emergency amendment to an earlier version of this regulation; this amendment was superseded by the February 16, 2001 amendment. The December 20, 2000 amendment was filed with the Secretary of State on March 5, 2001; it was not printed in the California Code of Regulations.

10. Emergency readoption without change filed 11-19-2001 of an action most recently filed 3-5-2001; operative 9-17-2001 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 2001, No. 47).

11. Emergency adoption effective pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 upon adoption by the Committee on March 19, 2003, filed with the Secretary of State on 5-8-2003 (Register 2003, No. 19).

Editor's Note: These March 19, 2003 emergency regulations supersede prior emergency regulations adopted and made effective by the Committee on January 29, 2003. The January 29 emergency regulations were filed with the Secretary of State on May 8, 2003, but were never printed in the California Code of Regulations.

12. Emergency adoption effective pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 upon adoption by the Committee on February 18, 2004, filed with the Secretary of State on 4-26-2004. These February 18, 2004 emergency regulations supersede prior emergency regulations (Register 2004, No. 18).

13. Emergency adoption effective pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 upon adoption by the Committee on June 16, 2004, filed with the Secretary of State on 7-19-2004. These June 16, 2004 emergency regulations supersede prior emergency regulations (Register 2004, No. 30).

14. Emergency adoption effective pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 upon adoption by the Committee on October 5, 2004, filed with the Secretary of State on 12-16-2004. These October 5, 2004 emergency regulations supersede prior emergency regulations (Register 2004, No. 51).

15. Emergency adoption effective pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 upon adoption by the Committee on February 16, 2005, filed with the Secretary of State on 4-4-2005. These February 16, 2005 emergency regulations supersede prior emergency regulations (Register 2005, No. 14).

16. Emergency readoption of action adopted by the Committee 2-16-2005 and filed with the Secretary of State 4-4-2005; refiled 11-1-2005; readopted by the Committee and effective 9-28-2005 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 2005, No. 44).

17. Emergency adoption filed 3-23-2006; conclusively presumed to be an emergency and effective upon adoption by the Committee on 1-18-2006 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17(c) and (d). This filing supercedes prior emergency regulations and is exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act except as provided in Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (a) and (b) (Register 2006, No. 12).

18. New section replacing prior emergency adoption filed 7-22-2010; operative 2-17-2010. Submitted to OAL for printing only pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 2010, No. 30).

19. Amendment of subsection (a), new subsections (a)(1)-(2) and amendment of subsection (c)(1) filed 3-19-2013; operative upon adoption by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee on 1-23-2013 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17(c). Submitted to OAL for printing only (Register 2013, No. 12).

20. Amendment filed 3-28-2014; operative upon adoption by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee on 1-29-2014 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.77(c). Submitted to OAL for printing only (Register 2014, No. 13).

21. Amendment filed 12-28-2015; operative upon adoption by the Tax Credit Allocation Committee on 10-21-2015 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17(c). Submitted to OAL for filing and printing only pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 2016, No. 1).

22. New subsections (f)(1)-(5) filed 2-9-2017; operative upon adoption by the Tax Credit Allocation Committee on 12-14-2016 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17(c). Submitted to OAL for filing and printing only pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17(c) (Register 2017, No. 6).

23. New subsection (a)(4) filed 5-2-2017; operative upon adoption by the Tax Credit Allocation Committee on 3-15-2017 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17(c). Submitted to OAL for filing and printing only pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 2017, No. 18).

24. Amendment of subsections (a)(3)(A)-(B), new subsection (b)(3) and amendment of subsections (c)(1) and (f)(3) filed 2-22-2018; operative upon adoption by the Tax Credit Allocation Committee on 12-13-2017 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17(c). Submitted to OAL for filing and printing only pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 2018, No. 8).

25. New subsection (b)(4) filed 2-7-2019; operative upon adoption by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee on 12-12-2018 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17(c). Submitted to OAL for filing and printing only pursuant to pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 2019, No. 6).

26. Amendment of subsection (d), new subsection (d)(1), amendment of subsection (f) and amendment of Note filed 2-26-2021; operative upon adoption by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee on 12-20-2020 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17(c). Submitted to OAL for filing and printing only pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 2021, No. 9).

27. Editorial correction deleting duplicative subsection (d) (Register 2022, No. 18).

28. New subsections (f)(6)-(f)(6)(H) filed 8-8-2022; operative upon adoption by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee on 7-20-2022 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17(c). Submitted to OAL for filing and printing only pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17 (Register 2022, No. 32).

29. Amendment of subsection (a)(3)(B) filed 3-13-2023; operative upon adoption by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee on 1-18-2023 pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17. Submitted to OAL for filing and printing only pursuant to Government Code section 11343.8 (Register 2023, No. 11).

30. Amendment of subsection (a)(4), new subsection (g) and amendment of Note filed 3-12-2024; operative 1-24-2024 upon adoption by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50199.17(c). Submitted to OAL for filing and printing only pursuant to Government Code section 11343.8 (Register 2024, No. 11).

This database is current through 4/26/24 Register 2024, No. 17.

Cal. Admin. Code tit. 4, § 10337, 4 CA ADC § 10337

End of Document