ROT for screening section 8 tenants

[Davian M.]

Hi BP,

I recently closed on a cash purchase, which I have started making small renovations to get the property rent ready for potential section 8 applicants. While I know that the housing authority will do their diligence to ensure the applicant is qualified for the property what kind of checks should I do in regards to tenant screening? I plan to ask for references from a previous landlord at least (2) and proof of income, are there any other requirements that I should have such as a background check and how much should I charge an applicant for these services, is there a ROT I should follow, are there any good websites to provide guidance? Any thoughts that you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Kind Regards

Davian

[Marcia Maynard]

We've had great success with Section 8 tenants. Establish a good relationship with the case managers at your local Housing Authority and it will pay off. The Section 8 tenants have a lot to lose if they don't follow the terms of the rental agreement, so they are motivated to uphold their end. If they don't, their case manager can give them a nudge.

We especially like receiving the HA portion of rent by direct deposit and it always arrives before rent is due, sweet. Our section 8 tenants pay their part of the rent on time too.

Something to keep in mind, the Housing Authority will do periodic inspections of your property. That is no problem as long as you keep up on your maintenance. We do seasonal inspections of all our properties in the spring and in the fall. We also do extra inspections if a tenant becomes troublesome.

We thought one of our properties was in good shape as it always passed the HA inspection, so we didn't inspect it as often as we should have. We found out later that one of the HA inspectors would just ask the tenant if there were any problems, if the tenant said their were none, the inspector would sign the papers and move on to the next property. The result was an under the sink water leak that went undetected for too long. We have come to appreciate the HA inspectors who do a thorough job.

Our experience shows the Section 8 tenants do have longer tenancies. At this time, we have three Section 8 tenants. Length of tenancy - 25 yrs, 21 yrs, and 12 yrs. Another one that moved out a couple of years ago had 6 yrs. Not too shabby!