(a) Purpose of Agreement. In the Agreement the owner agrees to develop the contract units to comply with the HQS, and the PHA agrees that, upon timely completion of such development in accordance with the terms of the Agreement, the PHA will enter into a HAP contract with the owner for the contract units.

(b) Requirement. The PHA must enter into an Agreement with the owner at such time as provided in §983.153. The Agreement must be in the form required by HUD headquarters (see 24 CFR 982.162).

(c) Commencement of construction or rehabilitation. The PHA may not enter into an agreement if commencement of construction or rehabilitation has commenced after proposal submission.

(1) Construction begins when excavation or site preparation (including clearing of the land) begins for the housing;

(2) Rehabilitation begins with the physical commencement of rehabilitation activity on the housing.

(d) Description of housing.

(1) At a minimum, the Agreement must describe the following features of the housing to be developed (newly constructed or rehabilitated) and assisted under the PBV program:

(i) Site;

(ii) Location of contract units on site;

(iii) Number of contract units by area (size) and number of bedrooms and bathrooms;

(iv) Services, maintenance, or equipment to be supplied by the owner without charges in addition to the rent to owner;

(v) Utilities available to the contract units, including a specification of utility services to be paid by owner (without charges in addition to rent) and utility services to be paid by the tenant;

(vi) Indication of whether or not the design and construction requirements of the Fair Housing Act and implementing regulations at 24 CFR 100.205 and the accessibility requirements of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794) and implementing regulations at 24 CFR 8.22 and 8.23 apply to units under the Agreement. If these requirements are applicable, any required work item resulting from these requirements must be included in the description of work to be performed under the Agreement, as specified in paragraph (c)(i)(viii) of this section.

(vii) Estimated initial rents to owner for the contract units;

(viii) Description of the work to be performed under the Agreement. If the Agreement is for rehabilitation of units, the work description must include the rehabilitation work write up and, where determined necessary by the PHA, specifications, and plans. If the Agreement is for new construction, the work description must include the working drawings and specifications.

(2) At a minimum, the housing must comply with the HQS. The PHA may elect to establish additional requirements for quality, architecture, or design of PBV housing, over and above the HQS, and any such additional requirement must be specified in the Agreement.

[70 FR 59913, Oct. 13, 2005, as amended at 79 FR 36167, June 25, 2014]