Inspecting Prospective Tenants Current Apartment

[Tony Murphy]

So I have an interesting situation and wanted to get others' opinions on this. We are currently renovating an apt in a small duplex and will be looking for tenants shortly. The duplex next door is scheduled to be sold in October but will be converted back to single family. As a result, the current tenants are being evicted. Yesterday one of the tenants introduced herself to me and inquired about my apt, saying that she is very interested since she works down the street and doesn't want to change her son's school. She told me that she is on Section 8 and with all of the horror stories out there, everyone I tell says to deny her right now. A friend suggested that I request to see her current apt and inspect the condition.

I wanted to know, first, if that's legal (in MA) and secondly, if it's a waste of time since she could clean it up anyway before I come.

It's our first time turning over the apt so we're just a little scared about the section 8 idea but at the same time, love the guaranteed payment each month.