Question about California Section 8 law

Factual Questions
1

Here is the situation: A woman, 69 years old and disabled, has lived in the same apartment for nearly ten years with a Section 8 subsidy. The certificate is hers; it does NOT go with the unit, but with her.

The building is being sold.

Assuming the buyer wants to evict the tenants (there are three units; the other two tenants do not have Sec. 8 certs) and assuming the owner does not intend to move in (there is no way anybody with that much money would live in the neighborhood in question):

  1. Is the status of the apartment as a Section 8 unit voided because of the new owner?

  2. As I said, the tenant is over 62, disabled and has lived there for 10 years. Can they throw her out in three months’ time, or does she get a year’s notice?

  3. My friend says that there are state regulations regarding destroying low-income units where if you do that, you must offer a comparable unit to the same tenant at the same price. But a Section 8 unit is not the same thing as “low income housing,” is it?

2

Hi. She really needs to get in touch with a legal aid organization, and there are plenty of them that deal with housing issues for low-income people. If she’s in LA, I’d suggest contacting Bet Tzedik (you can Google them). They have a staff of attorneys who live for this kind of stuff. And if she’s not in LA, call them anyway. They can refer you to a legal aid organization in her area.

3

Nothing is voided by this purchase.
If the current owner is forced to lease it to her for 11 more months,
the new owner is too.