Re: Can we refuse Section 8 tenants? - Landlord Forum thread 340207

Re: Can we refuse Section 8 tenants? by BMS (NC) on October 23, 2015 @22:04

One more thing.

The person who said you could get out of accepting section 8 by requiring 3x the rent as income is wrong. In the very few areas where landlords who refuse vouchers are considered discriminatory, the whole point of the voucher is you are guaranteed to get paid the rent regardless of the tenant's income, so no such rule would be legal for section 8 tenants. You could get sued, in those areas.

Your only recourse would be to raise the rent well above what the voucher pays for (we are allowed to rent higher than the voucher to a limited extent, but we have to pay the difference. Usually only people on social security would risk that).

But if you own a property with multiple units, you would have to raise the rent on all comparable units, not just for the section 8 family. And if someone moves out because they can't afford the rent, that loss is on you. And in many areas, what section 8 pays for is higher than average for those areas based on room size. (In San Francisco, one of the most expensive rental markets in the country [probably THE most expensive, well beyond NY overall] a 2 bedroom voucher covers up to $2,062 a month as of 2015, not counting the utility allowance.)

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