Raising rent as a new owner with section 8 tenants - Oakland

[Justin Pumpr]

Hi all,

first time poster here. I've looked through some of the other posts and it doesn't seem like this has been properly answered, so I was hoping for some info.

I am on the cusp of buying a duplex. One unit is vacant (I plan to live in this one) and one is occupied by section 8 tenants. The rental unit is a 3 bedroom and the current rent is $1,484. According to this site (http://www.huduser.gov/datasets/fmr/fmr_il_history...) the fair market rate for a 3-bedroom unit is $2,204.

My question, as a new owner, can I increase the rent to the fair market rate? Section-8 isn't applicable to rent control, but I'm not sure if this is too much of an increase.

To make things a bit more complicated, their voucher is for 2 people, for there are more than 2 people living there. This is a separate issue though and I'll probably post that separately.

Thanks for taking the time!