Section 8 housing agreement. — Where the tenant rented a residential property from
the landlord pursuant to the federal Section 8 housing program which paid the majority
of the tenant’s rent; in addition to rent, the lease required the tenant to pay a security
deposit; the lease permitted the landlord to terminate the lease during the first year’s
term if the tenant committed a serious violation of the lease; the tenant failed to pay the
full amount of the security deposit on the first day of the term; the tenant failed to pay
rent for July and August on the first day of the month as required by the lease because
the tenant did not receive public assistance checks for July and August until after the
first day of the month; the tenant mailed rent payments for July and August when the
tenant received the public assistance checks; the lease did not specify any date when
the security deposit was due or whether partial payments could be made; the amount of
the security deposit exceeded the amount of monthly rent contrary to the express terms
of the lease; the failure to pay the security deposit on the first day of the term did not
have a materially adverse effect on the landlord; and by October 2009, the tenant had
fully paid the security deposit and was current on all monthly rent payments, tenant’s
late payments of rent and the security deposit did not constitute a serious violation of
the lease. Serna v. Gutierrez, 2013-NMCA-026, 297 P.3d 1238.