5.2007—Certification of status and confidentiality.

(a) Request for documentation. A PHA, owner, or management agent presented with a claim for continued or initial tenancy or assistance based on status as a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, or criminal activity related to domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking may request that the individual making the claim document the abuse. The request for documentation must be in writing. The PHA, owner, or management agent may require submission of documentation within 14 business days after the date that the individual received the request for documentation. However, the PHA, owner, or management agent may extend this time period at its discretion.

(b) Forms of documentation. The documentation required under this section:

(1) May consist of a HUD-approved certification form indicating that the individual is a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking, and that the incident or incidents in question are bona fide incidents of such actual or threatened abuse. Such certification must include the name of the perpetrator, and may be based solely on the personal signed attestation of the victim; or

(2) May consist of a Federal, State, tribal, territorial, or local police report or court record; or

(3) May consist of documentation signed by an employee, agent, or volunteer of a victim service provider, an attorney, or medical professional, from whom the victim has sought assistance in addressing domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking, or the effects of abuse, in which the professional attests under penalty of perjury under 28 U.S.C. 1746 to the professional's belief that the incident or incidents in question are bona fide incidents of abuse, and the victim of domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking has signed or attested to the documentation; and

(4) Shall be kept confidential by the PHA, owner, or management agent. The PHA, owner, or management agent shall not:

(i) Enter the information contained in the documentation into any shared database;

(ii) Allow employees of the PHA, owner, or management agent, or those within their employ (e.g., contractors) to have access to such information unless explicitly authorized by the PHA, owner, or management agent for reasons that specifically call for these employees or those within their employ to have access to this information; and

(iii) Disclose this information to any other entity or individual, except to the extent that disclosure is:

(A) Requested or consented to by the individual making the documentation, in writing;

(B) Required for use in an eviction proceeding, or

(c) Failure to provide documentation. In order to deny relief for protection under VAWA, a PHA, owner, or management agent must provide the individual with a written request for documentation of the abuse. If the individual fails to provide the documentation within 14 business days from the date of receipt of the PHA's, owner's, or management agent's written request, or such longer time as the PHA, owner, or management agent at their discretion may allow, VAWA protections do not limit the authority of the PHA, owner, or management agent to evict or terminate assistance of the tenant or a family member for violations of the lease or family obligations that otherwise would constitute good cause to evict or grounds for termination. The 14-business day window for submission of documentation does not begin until the individual receives the written request. The PHA, owner, or management agency has discretionary authority to extend the statutory 14-day period.

(d) Discretion to provide relief. At its discretion, a PHA, owner, or management agent may provide benefits to an individual based solely on the individual's verbal statement or other corroborating evidence. A PHA's, owner's, or management agent's compliance with this section, whether based solely on the individual's verbal statements or other corroborating evidence, shall not alone be sufficient to constitute evidence of an unreasonable act or omission by a PHA, PHA employee, owner, or employee or agent of the owner. Nothing in this subparagraph shall be construed to limit liability for failure to comply with the requirements of 24 CFR part 5.

(e) Response to conflicting certification. In cases where the PHA, owner, or management agent receives conflicting certification documents from two or more members of a household, each claiming to be a victim and naming one or more of the other petitioning household members as the perpetrator, a PHA, owner, or management agent may determine which is the true victim by requiring third-party documentation as described in this section and in accordance with any HUD guidance as to how such determinations will be made. A PHA, owner, or management agent shall honor any court orders addressing rights of access or control of the property, including civil protection orders issued to protect the victim and issued to address the distribution or possession of property among the household.