Regulatory agreement

A regulatory agreement is the recorded contract through which a building's participation in a housing program becomes enforceable: the owner covenants to the administering agency — affordability levels, income limits, rent rules, reporting — in exchange for the program's financing, tax benefits, or land. Recorded against the property, it binds successors for its term.

For analysis, regulatory agreements are where a building's affordability obligations actually live: the tax benefit on the bill implies an agreement, but the agreement's text carries the terms — what is restricted, until when, and what happens at expiration. Any underwriting of a program building starts with this document, because the rent roll's future is written in it.