Section 8 : ezLandlordForms

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Deanna S

started a topic almost 15 years ago

I have prospective tenants that want to sign a separate agreement outside of their Section 8 agreement to pay the remaining amount of the rent that I'm asking. In other words, Section 8 only covers X and they want a separate agreement for the remaining $450. Has anyone ever dealt with that in MA? Am I being overly suspicious or is something fishy about this?

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Arnita B

said about 14 years ago

I specialize in renting to Section 8 tenants. They have been the best tenants. I only had one experience; the tenant did not want me to do work in the house. She had people living in the house that was not on the lease. That did not bother me; she had some issues. The other tenants pay on time and keep the house in order and fix the house up by replacing tile on the floor and keeping the yards up. I rentend to a non section 8 tenant and she did worse. She had a salary over $100,000.

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Judith M

said about 9 years ago

Very useful information. Thank you both!

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Deb S

said almost 14 years ago

did it only once.. never again. The house was totally trashed...and section 8 doesn't pay damages..or allow me to have a damage deposit on the tenant. That was the real problem... NO DAMAGE DEPOSIT. any other tenant ..I had 2 months of deposit... section 8..nothing. NEVER AGAIN once was more than enough

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Balkys S

said over 14 years ago

Tenats have more rights than LL. That tenant was setting you up for a law suit, don't feel bad. Sec 8 tenants know their rights better than most attorneys.

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T K

said almost 14 years ago

" I just found out that I would be getting a 1099 form at the end of the year. The young lady is trying to rush me into telling her how much will she be paying." All landlords should be reporting their rental income on their tax returns. Because this is HUD they will send a 1099. So be sure to report the income on your tax return (which you should be doing anyway). You as the landlord have no control over determining her portion of the rent. The housing authority is responsible for sending BOTH you and her notice of her portion and their portion of the rent. Most landlords I know will ask their local technician through section 8 how much the tenant is responsible for when they first get started so they can start collecting rent immediately.

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Denise S

said almost 14 years ago

You have the right to ask for a rent that is reasonable and comparable to similar unassisted private market apartments in the same building and neighborhood. The BHA may not approve a higher rent for an apartment if similar apartments in the building are charged lower rents or if similar apartments in the neighborhood are charged lower rents.

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Thomas H

said about 9 years ago

Judith, I always open my properties up to Section 8. But, as the others have mentioned, it comes with its benefits and pitfalls. There are a lot of great section 8 tenants out there. Statistically, the average section 8 tenant will stay in a unit for 4.5 years. This is about double the time of a non-section 8 tenant. Here is the section 8 process - 1) post your property on GoSection8 website or on other sites like craigslist state that you accept section 8 2) Tenant applies to rent your unit 3) Landlord does normal background and credit check just like with every other tenant 4) If you determine that you would like to rent to the section 8 tenant then you have the tenant sign the lease but leave the rental amount and lease start date blank. 5) Take the signed lease to the the HUD. You need this to schedule an inspection of the property 6) They will usually take 2-4 days to schedule and have an inspector out to your property. They will check for things like making sure all electrical is correct, each socket has a plate guard, light switches work, heater works, windows all have locks on them, doors all have locks, entry and exit doors have dead bolt and handle lock, and all appliances work properly. And most importantly, that the price you are asking for the unit is market rate and not too high. 7) If you pass the inspection, then you sign a lease agreement with the city housing authority and complete the lease with the tenant 8) The tenant pays their portion of the security deposit and lease and moves in. 9) the split for the tenant's obligation and what the federal gov't pays depends on the income of the tenant. They are required to pay up to 40% of the gross income in rent/rental costs. So if they make 12,000 / year then they are required to pay $400 / month in rental expenses which means maybe they pay $200 to gas, electric, and water company and they pay you $200 each month and the rest is direct deposited to you on the 1st of every month. That being said, if the rent in your area for a 2/2 is $800, you can usually ask 10-20% more than that and still have the housing authority accept your rental rate. In this case, if you were able to charge $1000 / month for rent then you would get the $800 every month guaranteed by the Federal Gov't. Then the extra $200 / month is somewhat of a bonus. But, keep in mind that with section 8 you usually have to spend a little more $$ for fix-up upon moveout. It all comes down to getting a good section 8 tenant. If you can find one, you can have a great situation. Hope this helps, Thomas Tenantopia, Inc Tenant screening and online application tool

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Ronald J

said over 14 years ago

My husband and I just started last year in December with a section 8 tenant. So far so good, the house is maintained and she pays her portion of the rent on time, but she nit picks at everything where it got to the point where my husband was coming over to the house every weekend because she had a problem with something that she wanted changed or did not like. Pretty much petty minor things. We really had to put our foot down with her because majority of these section 8 tenants think that they can just run all over you. We haven't really had any other major problems with her. Like previous poster said you take a gamble with any tenant whether they are section 8 or not. Since this is our first section 8 tenant we are looking to see how this year goes if we want to continue or not. You not only have to deal with the tenant, but with the county as well in regards to inspections etc. Good luck with your decision and keep us posted on what you decide.

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Linda W

said almost 14 years ago

I'm becoming a new LL, with section 8, I am in the process of doing my own contact. I just found out that I would be getting a 1099 form at the end of the year. The young lady is trying to rush me into telling her how much will she be paying. I'm making sure I dot all I's & cross all T's. I can use all the advice anyone have to offer. L TX

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Val S

said almost 15 years ago

I would not sign a separate agreement for the balance. Just write on the lease the portion that she will pay and remember section portion might go up or down depending on the tenants income or if you raise the rent.

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Matthew M

said over 4 years ago

NP. Overall, it's a great program to get into and you should have no issues.

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Balkys S

said over 14 years ago

Start the eviction process ASAP. She is responsible for the remainder of the rent. If housing has stopped payments, it's a serious or they feel she's able to afford the rent on her own. It's advantagous for you to go to court to evict her NOW, IMMEDIATELY while you can prove that housing is no longer paying for her and she's unable to because she's on vacation in Jamaica. Good luck

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Stan M

said over 14 years ago

I have to agree with TK. I'm in CA and I've used Housing for 25 yrs. Yes, there has been some problems, but no different than the non-Housing. Sometimes rent is a little late, but the usually pay up. You can always send the tenant a 3-day notice to pay or quit. A copy should always be sent to housing. This tends to get the tenant to pay up. If they don't, they could loose their voucher. The same is true if they owe you money at move-out. Back in the day it was wasn't as good for landlords. If tenants didn't pay what they owed, not much was done. Today, it's a different ball game. Some of my Housing tenants stayed for 8-12 yrs. As far as rent increases, Housing checks the local rent market each yr. If you make substantial improvements or can justify) a rent increase (similar rents in the neighborhood, they'll reconsider your increase. Don't expect to get more than what the market will bear.

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T K

said over 14 years ago

I have to laugh at all these posts. ANY tenant is a gamble, and the only thing housing will make you repair are things you SHOULD repair as a landlord. I have had several section 8 tenants. All of them were properly screened (credit check, references, etc.) and every one of them has worked out. I have one tenant that has been in my same rental for 5 years and has had one HOA notice about something that was out of her control. I think people are being unrealistic with their horror stories. Eviction is expensive with normal tenants. The nice thing about Section 8 is that the good tenants fear their assistance will be taken away and often do not pose much harm. On the flipside I have rented to non-section 8 renters and have had an entire host of issues.

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Cindy H

said almost 14 years ago

Its hard if not impossible to evict a section 8 Think it over carefully