Request By:
Mr. Logan E. Combs, Director
Housing Authority of Hazard
Parker Tower
100 Campbell Street
Hazard, Kentucky 41701
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; Guy C. Shearer, Assistant Attorney General
You requested an opinion from this office sometime ago regarding the applicability of the Kentucky "Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act," viz; Kentucky Revised Statutes 383.505 to 383.715 inclusive.
Your first question is whether or not the act and its provisions are applicable to the Housing Authority of Hazard, Perry County, Kentucky.
Kentucky Revised Statutes specifically provides that 383.505 to 383.715 shall apply only to counties containing cities of the first class and urban-county governments. Perry County does not have a first class city and an urban-county government. See KRS 383.715. Hence, in our opinion the act does not apply to Perry County.
Your second question is in the event in our opinion we determine the act was not applicable to Perry County, "What procedures (barring the absence of any Federal regulation) would the Housing Authority of Hazard be allowed to follow wherein a tenant fails to pay his rent in a timely manner on two occasions in the same six-month period?
Since KRS 383.505 to KRS 383.715 is not applicable to the City of Hazard and Perry County, yet, the Hazard Housing Authority would like in it's operation to be governed by a law or regulation having like or similar provisions as those found in KRS 383.660 we offer our suggestions.
We suggest that your Housing Authority, which is a governmental corporate body, proceed through the authorized procedures in Chapter 80 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes. KRS 80.050 - KRS 80.200.
KRS 80.050 gives the authority "power to contract and be contracted with, to sue and be sued, power to adopt a seal and alter it at will. Each authority may establish by laws, rules and regulations for it's own government. . ."
Your authority could, pursuant to KRS 80.050, properly adopt rules and regulations having very similar, if not identical, provisions contained in KRS 383.660.