Renting to Section 8 Voucher Tenants

A common mistake landlords make is they wait until they and their property are approved by the local Section 8 authority before they advertise for Section 8 Voucher Tenants. As mentioned in the previous article, you should start to advertise your property to Section 8 Voucher Tenants the moment you decide to apply to the Section 8 program.

Finding Section 8 Tenants
Actually, you do not find them; they normally find you. Remember the phrase from the previous article? Insert "Will consider Section 8" to your advertisements, and you will receive calls. My phone constantly rings when I use that phrase is in advertisements.

Another strategy to find Section 8 Tenants is to add your property to the local Section 8 authority’s approved property list. Once your property is approved, you need to contact the local Section 8 authority and request to be added to the approved property list. Not all local Section 8 authorities automatically add you to the property list, so make sure your property is on it.

Typically, a home is only listed for a specific period of time; therefore, you need to ask your local Section 8 authority how long their listing period is for. If you do not rent your home in that time period, you can request to have your home relisted.

Evaluating Section 8 Tenant Applicants
A Section 8 applicant should be evaluated like every other applicant. There is one additional step, and that step is to verify the Section 8 voucher is valid. To do that, simply contact the agency the Section 8 applicant lists as the local Section 8 authority he/she is approved through.

Our local Section 8 authority does not evaluate and qualify voucher receipts based on rental criteria, so my company, as the property owner, is responsible for qualifying the tenant. Most local Section 8 authorities do not evaluate voucher recipients for rental qualifications, so it is imperative you conduct your due diligence as you would for any other applicant.

Remember, you cannot discriminate when renting your property, because it is wrong to do so and it is against the law! You must have the same rental criteria for a regular paying applicant and a Section 8 Voucher applicant.

If you have any questions about the Section 8 program, please feel free to contact me.
Aaron