Section 8 project-based eviction rules, set out in 24 CFR Part 247, limit a landlord to four specific grounds for ending your tenancy and require a written termination notice followed by a court order before you can be removed. Because the subsidy attaches to the building rather than to you, these federal protections override the looser standards that apply in the private market. They are real protections, but they do not shield tenants whose conduct falls into the categories the regulations single out.
The Four Reasons You Can Be Evicted
Federal regulations narrow the reasons a Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) landlord can end your lease to four categories. The landlord has to prove the specific ground applies.
Material Noncompliance With the Lease
This is the broadest ground and covers the most common evictions. It includes nonpayment of rent beyond any grace period your state allows, one or more serious lease violations, or repeated minor violations that disrupt livability, threaten health or safety, interfere with property management, or cause financial harm to the project.1eCFR. 24 CFR 247.3 – Entitlement of Tenants to Occupancy One missed rent payment or one noise complaint probably will not get you evicted. A documented pattern of minor violations can, even if no single incident was severe.
Nonpayment gets treated on a sliding scale. Paying late but within your state’s grace period counts only as a minor violation. Paying after the grace period expires counts as material noncompliance and opens the door to termination.1eCFR. 24 CFR 247.3 – Entitlement of Tenants to Occupancy
Failure to Meet State Landlord-Tenant Obligations
Every state imposes baseline tenant duties: keeping the unit sanitary, not damaging the property, not creating safety hazards. A serious violation of those state-law duties is an independent ground for termination, separate from any lease clause.1eCFR. 24 CFR 247.3 – Entitlement of Tenants to Occupancy The failure has to be material. A cluttered closet does not qualify. Conditions that trigger health code violations or structural damage do.
Criminal Activity, Drug Use, and Alcohol Abuse
Drug-related criminal activity on or near the property by any tenant, household member, or guest is grounds for termination. So is illegal drug use by a household member, or a pattern of drug use that interferes with other residents’ health, safety, or peaceful enjoyment.2eCFR. 24 CFR 5.858 – Lease Provisions for Drug-Related Criminal Activity The lease must also allow termination for any criminal activity by a household member or guest that threatens the health, safety, or peaceful enjoyment of other residents or people in the immediate vicinity. A household member who is a fugitive felon or in violation of probation or parole can also be a basis for eviction.3eCFR. 24 CFR 5.859 – Authorization to Evict Other Criminals
Alcohol abuse is a separate ground, but only when a household member’s drinking threatens other residents’ health, safety, or peaceful enjoyment.4eCFR. 24 CFR 5.860 – Lease Provisions for Alcohol Abuse Quiet drinking in your own unit does not qualify. The behavior has to reach your neighbors.
One detail catches many tenants off guard. You can be held responsible for a guest’s criminal activity even if you did not participate or know about it. Drug manufacturing or distribution by anyone on the property typically triggers immediate termination action with far less tolerance than minor lease infractions receive.
Other Good Cause
This catch-all sounds broad but is narrowly constrained. The landlord cannot rely on “other good cause” unless you were previously warned, in writing, that the specific conduct would be treated as a basis for termination going forward. That warning must be served the same way a formal termination notice would be.1eCFR. 24 CFR 247.3 – Entitlement of Tenants to Occupancy No prior warning, no “other good cause” termination. The regulation also bars any termination based on a lease clause or state law that would allow ending the tenancy without good cause.
What the Written Notice Must Say and How It Must Reach You
Before a landlord can file anything in court, federal rules require a written termination notice with specific content, delivered a specific way. A missing element gives you a defense if the case reaches a judge.
Mandatory Content
Every termination notice must state the date the tenancy ends, explain the reasons in enough detail that you can prepare a defense, and inform you that if you remain past the termination date the landlord’s only option is court, where you can present your side.5eCFR. 24 CFR 247.4 – Termination Notice Vague language such as “repeated lease violations” is not enough. The notice needs to identify which lease provisions were violated and when.
HUD’s Occupancy Handbook adds another element. The notice should tell you that you have 10 calendar days from the notice date to request a meeting with the property owner to discuss the proposed termination.6Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD Handbook 4350.3 – Occupancy Requirements of Subsidized Multifamily Housing Programs This meeting is an informal chance to dispute the charges or explain the situation before court. Do not let the 10-day window close without responding.
Extra Requirements for Nonpayment Notices
When the eviction is for unpaid rent, the notice has to include more: an itemized breakdown of what you owe separated by month, instructions on how to cure the violation with a deadline for paying before the landlord can file in court, and information about how to recertify your income or apply for a hardship exemption under 24 CFR 5.630(b).5eCFR. 24 CFR 247.4 – Termination Notice Many PBRA tenants whose finances have changed may qualify for reduced rent they never applied for. A notice that omits these elements is defective.
How the Notice Must Be Delivered
A termination notice is not legally effective until it is delivered two ways. It has to be mailed by first-class mail to you at the property address, and it also has to be handed to an adult at your door or, if nobody answers, slipped under the door or posted on it.7eCFR. 24 CFR 247.4 – Termination Notice Both steps must happen. The official receipt date is whichever came later, the mailing or the posting. A notice that was only mailed, or only posted, has not been properly served, and a court filing based on it is premature.
How Much Notice You Get
The advance notice you are entitled to depends on the ground. For “other good cause” terminations, the notice cannot take effect earlier than 30 days after you receive it, and it must coincide with the end of a lease term.5eCFR. 24 CFR 247.4 – Termination Notice For material noncompliance or failure to meet state landlord-tenant obligations, timing follows the lease and state law. For nonpayment, HUD revoked the federal 30-day notice mandate effective March 30, 2026, returning that timeline to whatever the lease and state law provide.8Federal Register. Revocation of the 30-Day Notification Requirement Prior To Termination of Lease for Nonpayment of Rent Your state’s nonpayment notice period now controls, which in some states is as short as three days.
The Court Order Requirement
No matter how serious the alleged violation, a PBRA landlord cannot remove you without a court order. Federal regulations flatly prohibit self-help eviction: no changing locks, no removing your belongings, no shutting off utilities.9eCFR. 24 CFR 247.6 – Eviction The landlord has to go through the state or local judicial process while also satisfying the federal requirements of Part 247.
Once the notice period expires, the landlord files in local court and you receive a summons with a hearing date. The judge reviews whether the landlord followed every procedural step: proper grounds, proper notice content, proper delivery, proper timing. If any element is missing, the case can be dismissed regardless of whether you actually violated the lease. This is where the procedural protections have real teeth.
You have the right to present evidence. Proof of payment, documentation that you corrected the violation, or evidence that the landlord did not follow notice requirements are all valid defenses. There is no federal right to a free attorney in eviction cases, but a growing number of state and local jurisdictions have right-to-counsel programs for tenants facing eviction, particularly in subsidized housing. Represented tenants fare dramatically better.
If the court rules against you, it issues an eviction order, sometimes called a writ of restitution depending on the state. Only law enforcement officers can carry out the physical removal. The landlord cannot do it personally. The time between the order and the actual removal typically runs one to two weeks, depending on local court backlogs and sheriff scheduling.
If Your Disability Contributed to the Violation
If you have a disability and the lease violation is connected to it, the Fair Housing Act gives you the right to request a reasonable accommodation, meaning asking the landlord to make an exception to the rule you violated or modify a policy so you can stay.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3604 – Discrimination in the Sale or Rental of Housing This right applies at any point during the eviction process, including after a termination notice has been issued and during court proceedings.6Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD Handbook 4350.3 – Occupancy Requirements of Subsidized Multifamily Housing Programs
You need to show a connection between your disability and the behavior that led to the violation. You do not have to disclose the specific diagnosis, only enough information to establish that the need for the accommodation is disability-related. A letter from a doctor, therapist, social worker, or other professional who knows your situation is usually sufficient. The landlord then evaluates whether the accommodation is reasonable and would not create an undue burden.
The landlord can deny the request if your continued tenancy would pose a direct threat to the health or safety of other residents that no reasonable accommodation could reduce. That determination has to rest on an individualized assessment using objective evidence, not assumptions about your condition. If the landlord denies the request, they are required to engage in a back-and-forth process to explore whether an alternative would work. A flat refusal without that step can itself become the basis for a fair housing complaint or a defense in the eviction case.
How an Eviction Affects Future Subsidized Housing
Losing a PBRA unit is not just about finding a new apartment. If the eviction was for drug-related criminal activity, federal regulations impose a mandatory three-year ban on admission to the Housing Choice Voucher program, starting from the date of eviction.11eCFR. 24 CFR 982.553 – Denial of Admission and Termination of Assistance for Criminals and Alcohol Abusers For those three years, you cannot receive a Section 8 voucher regardless of income or need.
Two narrow exceptions exist. The housing authority can waive the ban if the household member who engaged in the drug-related criminal activity successfully completes a supervised drug rehabilitation program the housing authority approves, or if the circumstances that led to the eviction no longer exist, for example if the person responsible has left the household, is incarcerated, or has died.11eCFR. 24 CFR 982.553 – Denial of Admission and Termination of Assistance for Criminals and Alcohol Abusers Otherwise the ban is automatic.
Even non-drug evictions follow you. Housing authorities reviewing applications for any federal housing program can see the eviction history, and most have broad discretion to deny applicants with prior evictions from subsidized housing. A PBRA eviction on your record makes every future subsidized housing application harder, which is why using your defenses and exploring reasonable accommodations before the case is decided matters so much.