Protected Early Lease-Termination Attorney/Advocate Intake

PROTECTED EARLY LEASE-TERMINATION ATTORNEY/ADVOCATE INTAKE

Do not send this worksheet to a landlord or housing provider as a legal notice. Complete it privately so licensed counsel and, where appropriate, a qualified victim advocate can select the correct route and prepare the required document.

Safety first. Do not use a device, account, phone number, mailing address, cloud folder, or delivery method that an adverse person can monitor. Contact emergency services if there is immediate danger. Record only the facts needed to evaluate housing options; do not create a detailed incident narrative here.

1. Intake Control and Safe Contact

Do not leave a voicemail, send an email, or mail anything until the tenant confirms that method is currently safe.

2. Housing, Lease, and Jurisdiction

Attach the lease, addenda, renewal documents, subsidy or program notices, ledger, and any current eviction or termination papers.

3. Immediate Housing Objective

Select every objective that may be needed. These are different remedies and may use different legal routes.

☐ End the tenant's future lease liability

☐ Move to another unit through a covered-housing emergency transfer

☐ Remove or exclude an adverse tenant through lease bifurcation or court order

☐ Preserve rental assistance while changing units or household composition

☐ Negotiate a written mutual release

☐ Prevent eviction or termination based on violence, abuse, sexual assault, or stalking

☐ Change locks, access codes, parking, mail, or authorized occupants

☐ Protect a forwarding or transfer address

☐ Recover or surrender personal property safely

☐ Other: [________________________________]

Requested move or safety date: [__/__/____]

4. Minimal Eligibility Facts

Do not write a detailed history. Counsel should collect only what the selected route requires.

Potential protected person:

☐ Tenant / applicant

☐ Household member or lawful occupant

☐ Child or other family member

☐ Other person covered by a state-specific rule: [________________________________]

Potential category:

☐ Domestic or family violence

☐ Dating violence

☐ Sexual assault

☐ Stalking

☐ Human trafficking

☐ Elder or dependent-adult abuse

☐ Other crime, threat, injury, weapon, or protected category: [________________________________]

Most recent legally relevant date, if safe to record: [__/__/____]

Protection, no-contact, criminal, family, or other court order exists: ☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Unknown

Law-enforcement, administrative, or court record exists: ☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Unknown

Do not record the adverse person's name, physical description, current location, or relationship unless the selected law or form requires it and disclosure is safe.

5. Route Selection

A. State or Local Protected Early-Termination Route

☐ A current statute or ordinance expressly authorizes early termination or release.

Do not borrow a category, document, deadline, or rent result from another state.

B. Federal VAWA Covered-Housing Route

VAWA's federal housing provisions apply to housing assisted under a covered housing program. They protect against specified denials, terminations, and evictions and provide an emergency-transfer framework; they do not create a universal private-market right to cancel every lease.

Coverage indicators:

☐ Public housing

☐ Housing Choice Voucher or project-based voucher

☐ Project-based Section 8 or another HUD multifamily program

☐ HOME, Housing Trust Fund, tax-credit, rural, veteran, homeless, transitional, or supportive-housing program

☐ HUD-5380 notice or VAWA lease/addendum received

☐ Housing provider has a VAWA emergency-transfer plan

☐ Program unknown — request written identification before choosing the route

Potential federal request:

☐ Emergency transfer under the provider's plan

☐ Lease bifurcation addressing an adverse tenant or lawful occupant

☐ Preservation of assistance, tenancy, or occupancy rights

☐ Response to eviction or termination action

☐ HUD-5382 certification or another tenant-selected permissible document

☐ HUD-5383 emergency-transfer request

An emergency-transfer request is not a guarantee that a unit will be available. Obtain the provider's current plan and program-specific instructions.

C. Negotiated or Lease-Based Release

☐ Written mutual termination / surrender agreement

☐ Lease early-termination clause

☐ Assignment, replacement tenant, or approved sublease

☐ Transfer to another property owned or managed by the housing provider

☐ Other negotiated solution: [________________________________]

A negotiated document should state the effective date, possession, keys, rent, fees, deposit, property, claims, confidentiality, cotenants, guarantors, and subsidy consequences. Do not represent a negotiated concession as a statutory entitlement.

D. Court, Agency, or Program-Specific Route

☐ Protection-order housing relief

☐ Eviction-defense or anti-retaliation proceeding

☐ Reasonable accommodation or effective-communication request

☐ Subsidy grievance, hearing, portability, household-change, or transfer procedure

☐ Military, bankruptcy, probate, immigration, child-custody, or other overlay

☐ Other: [________________________________]

6. Documentation and Data Minimization

Inventory documents without attaching them to this intake unless secure handling is confirmed.

For HUD covered housing, if the provider makes a written documentation request, 24 C.F.R. § 5.2007 generally gives the applicant or tenant the choice among the permitted forms and a 14-business-day response period, subject to extension and the conflicting-information procedure. Do not demand multiple documents, a diagnosis, therapy notes, a full medical record, or a full police file when the governing route does not require them.

7. Confidentiality, Cotenants, and Address Safety

For HUD covered housing, information submitted under 24 C.F.R. § 5.2007—including the fact that a person is a victim—must be kept in strict confidence and must not be entered into a shared database or disclosed except under the rule's limited written-consent, proceeding, or legal-requirement exceptions.

8. Rent, Deposit, Property, and Possession

Do not promise that rent, fees, damages, deposit deductions, cotenant liability, or guarantor liability ends on a particular date until counsel applies the exact route.

9. Current-Law Research Sheet

Licensed counsel must complete the applicable rows using current official sources.

Amendment/repeal search completed for every core citation: ☐ Yes

Official prescribed or program form checked for current expiration/version: ☐ Yes

10. Attorney/Advocate Route Determination

Selected primary route: [________________________________]

Parallel or fallback route: [________________________________]

Operative document to prepare: [________________________________]

Required attachment: [________________________________]

Deadline and calculation: [________________________________]

Delivery method and recipient: [________________________________]

Financial result: [________________________________]

Cotenant / occupant / guarantor result: [________________________________]

Confidentiality and safe-contact instructions: [________________________________]

Attorney approval: [________________________________] Date: [__/__/____]

Advocate safety-plan coordination, if authorized: [________________________________]

11. Drafting and Delivery Checklist

☐ This intake is not being sent as the operative notice

☐ The exact jurisdiction and housing program are confirmed

☐ Every protected category and relationship used is authorized

☐ The selected document is permitted and no extra sensitive material is attached

☐ The effective date and rent calculation follow current law or a signed agreement

☐ Cotenant, occupant, guarantor, subsidy, and property consequences are addressed

☐ Delivery will not disclose a safe address or alert an adverse person unnecessarily

☐ Proof of delivery will be retained in a secure location

☐ The tenant has a safe copy and knows whom to contact about the request

SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• U.S. Code — 34 U.S.C. § 12491
• eCFR — 24 C.F.R. Part 5, Subpart L
• HUD Form 5380 — Notice of Occupancy Rights
• HUD Form 5382 — Certification
• HUD Form 5383 — Emergency Transfer Request