Unit amenities are “extra features” of a unit or its immediate neighborhood that make the unit more usable, convenient, comfortable, or enjoyable for the tenant living there.
Amenities go beyond the bare minimum requirements of “decent, safe, and sanitary housing.” They are not covered by the unit’s basic attributes of location, square footage, type, and age. An amenity could be an accessibility feature for the handicapped or disabled (e.g., a wheelchair ramp), some other item or feature in the unit itself (e.g., carpeting or a refrigerator or dishwasher), a nearby facility (e.g., laundry facilities or a community playground), or even a management service (e.g., the owner pays all utilities).
Most agencies keep track of unit amenities for two primary reasons. The first is simply so they can describe a unit more fully to a new tenant or applicant. The second is so they can compare different units, often with different amenities, when making Fair Market Rent calculations.
Note: The Maintain Unit Amenities function is available in both the Tenant Accounts Receivable program and the Rent Reasonableness program. Your agency has only one list of available amenities, but you can access and maintain that list from either program.
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