Section 8? - Landlord Forum thread 348500

Section 8? by Stefany (GA) on September 22, 2016 @21:48

My first instinct/response to inquiries on my available home for rent that begin with "Do you accept Section 8?" is definitely NO. I'm wondering if I'm being too selective and if a tenant passes all of the background/credit checks, will they do OK?

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Re: Section 8? by Katiekate (New York) on September 22, 2016 @22:10	[ Reply ]

Well, the topic is no so straight forward as a yes or no answer. So..first, the administrative headache. If you accept such a person, they then go apply to get section 8 for YOUR property. They were probably approved for a section 8 voucher in general...but it can only be used to s specific property. So..they go the housing office and apply for you place. In about a week or two, you get a call...there is an inspection that has to be done. Your place must comply with their codes (not to be confused with the city codes). So an inspection is scheduled for the next week (unless they are short handed..then it could be a couple of weeks). Now...it is the end of the month. You still do not have a tenant moving in for sure. You get s list of "repairs" you must make...and by the way..sect 8 will NOT pay as much as you are asking. What do you do? You waited all this time...now you have no tenant moving in on the first... Ok..you figure to accept the lower rent...you make repairs. Now you wait for a re-inspection. By the time that is done... You lose another half month rent. But...now you are told that you will sign one of the lease agreements that housing office has...not your agreement...theirs. Read it carefully, it is written to protect the tenant and the housing office..not you. AND..now you learn...no damage deposit. So..you are going to eat the 100% damages on move out with nothing to help offset it at all. With all that said. I had a couple of retired people on sect 8. Never an issue. Nice folks and no problems. I have multiple times purchased houses with sect 8 families already in...,what a nightmare. And damage on move out that was extensive. You cannot discriminate against children. So...how do you figure out which ones are going to be ok? Credit check? You cannot be serious. They are on section 8 after their situation resulted in teprashed credit. Background is all you can do. Should you? Depends on the property. Depends on the neighborhood. Depends on you.

Re: Section 8?

Re: Section 8? by Anonymous on September 22, 2016 @22:23	[ Reply ]

Do not say no when asked if you accept S8. Say the property is not Section 8 approved. This only applies if you rent one or two houses, single family. There was a great discussion of S8 pros and cons in the last couple of weeks you might want to search for. My reaction to Section 8 is to run as far and as fast as I can away from any such S8 tenants.

Re: Section 8?

Re: Section 8? by Garry on September 23, 2016 @00:13	[ Reply ]

To add to what K.K. has said----- You will be signing a 1 year lease. The T still has to pay their portion of the total rent, or they can be evicted for non-pay of rent. At the 1 year point, Sec 8 will do an inspection again on your property. You get 30 days to fix anything they find, even if it's damage the T caused. If not done in 30 days, Sec with holds their part of the rent til it's fixed. And you will not receive back rent either, if it takes you another month to repair everything. When the T moves out, no matter what damage the T has done, Sec 8 will not do a final inspection of your place. At that point, the T can move to another property, and still stay on Sec. 8. If there is damage, and IF you have a deposit, you can use the deposit towards the damage, and you would have to take the T to court, and win a judgement against the T. Then the T would have to pay you back for any damages beyond the deposit, if they wanted to remain on Sec. 8. K.K. is right. Sec 8 is totally geared towards the T, and is not a friend to the LL. And, yes, the best thing to say to a prospective T who wants Sec 8 , is to say your house does not meet Sec 8 qualifications.