New York City Department of Housing, Preservation and Development

Controls Over Rent Revenues

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development rehabilitates deteriorated and abandoned buildings that are obtained through tax foreclosures, and sells these buildings to not-for-profit organizations and other entities for use as rental housing. The Department also rents out apartments in usable buildings that have not been sold. We examined the controls established by the Department over this rent revenue and found that a number of improvements are needed. For example, there is no process for independently verifying that rent checks collected by Department field offices have been transmitted to the central office. In addition, rent payments are not always posted to tenant accounts in a timely manner, action is not always taken to collect unpaid rent from tenants, and the authorization for adjustments made to tenant accounts is not always documented. We also identified control weaknesses in the automated tenant accounts information system.

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