Section 8 housing authorities aren't following HUD

[Michael Totman]

Hi everyone, I'm a landlord in Massachusetts and I've been dealing with two separate housing authorities who administer my tenants section 8 vouchers and am getting conflicting information from them both regarding HUD rent limits.

I have a three family building, all units are identical and stacked on top of each other. I have two different tenants, in the same building with identical units, whose section 8 vouchers are administered by two different housing authorities. I'm trying to receive a fair rent but one authority tells me that their HUD limits are one value, the other tells me they are a different value, and the two are hundreds of dollars apart.

One is what I would consider fair and we've been able to reach a contract. 

The other is not what I consider fair and they refuse to raise the rent. This tenant was inherited when I bought the building last year and this is the period when their contract is up for renewal. The housing authority insist the HUD limits prevent them from paying my requested rent or even increasing it at all, while the other authority had no issue entering into a contract for the requested amount. I've requested the same amount for both.

Has anyone ever faced an issue like this, and have you successfully negotiated a higher rent that is well supported by local comparable values and even HUD numbers that you've received from a housing authority?

Any tips on what I can do? I've already sent them comp rents from MLS, provided data from my other units in the same neighborhood, and shared the HUD info from the different authority with them. They won't budge and I don't want to have to evict the tenant.