Property – public housing, drug-related breach, URLTA, and preemption: Housing Authority of Covington v. Turner (COA 5/29/2009)

Housing Authority of Covington v. Turner
2007-CA-002562 05/29/2009 2009 WL 1491330

Opinion by Judge Thompson; Judge Keller concurred; Judge Moore concurred by separate opinion.

On discretionary review, the Court affirmed an order of the circuit court affirming a holding of the district court that the doctrine of preemption did not preclude the application of a tenant’s right to remedy her drug-related breach of lease pursuant to KRS 383.660(1), contained within the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA). The Court held that 42 U.S.C. § 1437d(l)(6) did not preempt KRS 383.660(1) because there was no prohibition in the federal law against affording a public housing tenant the right to remedy the breach, there was no irreconcilable conflict between the statutes, and the application of the state statute did not defeat the objectives of the federal statute. Further, the Housing Authority exercised its discretion when it gave the tenant the rights conferred by the URLTA by incorporating the Act into the lease.