10 free, exam-style Certified Occupancy Specialist (COS) practice questions with answers and explanations. No signup required. Work through them below, then take the full free COS practice test to study every exam domain.
These 10 free COS questions are organized by exam domain, so you can see how each part of the Certified Occupancy Specialist blueprint is tested. Reveal the answer and explanation under each question.
A property manager is calculating annual income for a tenant who is paid every two weeks (biweekly). The tenant's gross pay is $1,450 each pay period. What amount should the manager record as the tenant's annual income?
Correct answer: C - $37,700
A family's total net household assets are $61,000, and those assets earned $180 in actual income over the past year. HUD's passbook savings rate is 0.40%, and the imputed-income threshold is $52,787. How much income from assets must be included in the family's annual income?
Correct answer: A - $244, the imputed income, since it exceeds the actual income
Count the greater of actual or passbook-rate income once assets exceed the threshold.
All of the following are EXCLUDED from a family's annual income under HUD rules EXCEPT:
Correct answer: C - Regular monthly Social Security retirement benefits
A family's monthly adjusted income is $1,200 and their monthly gross income is $1,350. The owner's minimum rent is $50, and the family does not live in a welfare 'as-paid' locality. What is the family's Total Tenant Payment (TTP)?
Correct answer: B - $360
Total Tenant Payment is the greatest of 30% of monthly adjusted income, 10% of monthly gross income, welfare rent, or minimum rent.
A family of four consists of two parents, ages 40 and 38, and their two children. One child has a chronic medical condition, and the family paid $4,500 in unreimbursed medical expenses this year on an annual income of $30,000. Under current HOTMA rules, what medical expense deduction is this family entitled to?
Correct answer: D - $0 - the family is not an elderly or disabled family
The medical expense deduction is available only to elderly or disabled families; under HOTMA the threshold is 10% of annual income.
A 22-year-old full-time college student applies for Section 8 assistance. She is unmarried, has no dependent children, is not a veteran, and is not a person with a disability. During the review, the owner verifies that her parents' combined income is $26,000, while the income limit for the applicable household size is $24,000. How should the owner classify her eligibility?
Correct answer: B - Ineligible - her parents' income exceeds the limit
While completing an annual recertification, an owner runs the EIV Income Report and finds it shows $6,200 more in wages than the tenant reported on their certification. What is the owner's most appropriate next step?
Correct answer: A - Discuss the discrepancy with the tenant and verify it before finalizing
On July 18, a tenant reports a permanent decrease in income, which the owner verifies and processes the same month through an interim recertification. When does the tenant's reduced rent take effect?
Correct answer: B - On August 1, the first of the month following the action
Rent decreases take effect the first of the month after the action; the 30-day notice applies only to increases.
A tenant who uses a wheelchair asks the owner to install grab bars in the bathroom of their unit. The property receives federal financial assistance. Under Section 504, who is generally responsible for the cost of this modification?
Correct answer: A - The owner, unless it would impose an undue financial and administrative burden
Reasonable modifications in federally assisted housing are provider-paid, unlike the Fair Housing Act standard for private housing.
Which of the following situations would NOT, on its own, constitute 'good cause' for an owner to terminate a tenant's tenancy in HUD-assisted multifamily housing?
Correct answer: D - The tenant reported the birth of a child in the household
The COS exam also covers these domains. Drill them in the full free practice test:
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