Any advice on accepting Section 8 vouchers?

Question

I am currently marketing my rental in Fresno, CA. I have never rented to a tenant with a section 8 voucher before. What steps do I need to take or issues I should look out for if I end up accepting a tenant and their voucher?

Michael Smythe · Answer

@Joshua Myer do a Zoom call with them while they are at current home.

Ask some simple questions, then ask them to show you their kitchen, bathroom and one other room.

How those rooms like, is how yours will look soon after they move in...

Tracy Minick · Answer

Section 8 can bring great benefits. You should be prepared to have your unit pass a section 8 inspection. You can also expect that you will have a handful of paperwork to complete and receiving your 1st payment could take a month, as they have to enter you into the system and likely have set pay out dates.

Nancy Tran · Answer

We have a few Section 8 tenants in Fresno, and as the previous poster said, we've generally had a pleasant experience. We do get an annual to-do list of some nitpicky things from them, but the payment is always on time, even through COVID. Our experience of the tenants have been very positive, they take care of the place because they don't want to lose the voucher either.

Most of this was done by our property manager (Neighborhood Property Management), but they have a good website (Housing Choice Vouchers), including a specific section for interested landlords.

Lynn Wong · Answer

First important thing is asking them to show you or upload their voucher and the calculation summary (in Sacramento) to make sure they can afford the unit according to section 8 calculation, it called "rent affordability worksheet". In Sacramento, they have this posted on their website, you or tenant can put in the asking rent and the calculation will let you know if it is affordable. My experience here in Sac is people looking for the place but their voucher is not yet ready, I had to turn down handful of tenants that were not ready but wanted to rent my place.

Make sure to follow their inspection list, the inspector checked everything on that list, testing every single plug in my property, turn on every appliance, hot water.. very thorough.

Once you passed inspection, tenant can move in the same day. But process takes a little long before you get your first payment (about 3 weeks for me). Not bad here in Sac though since everything is online from turning tenant request called RFTA to rent negotiation through email, landlord portal, direct deposit set up. It makes things faster and easier online than paperwork like the old day.

Good luck!

Any advice on accepting Section 8 vouchers?

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