Screening Section 8 Tenant Screening

[Dewain J.]

I'm curious how other landlords are handling screening for section 8 and other subsidized tenants in terms of screening and protecting your investment. Obviously they are responsible to a very small portion of their rent. Most times it's almost negligible. Are you still doing credit/background checks? Any recommendations for best practices that you have found useful? I'm currently doing rentals in Philadelphia. 

[Patti Robertson]

@Theodore Arzt - You definitely want to pull a credit report.  A SEC 8 tenant is required to use 30% of their own income for utilities and rent.  If they end up with a garnishment, their income is cut, yet they have the same requirement to pay their portion of the rent and utilities.  If they were to lose their job, SEC 8 would adjust their portion of rent, but with a garnishment they don’t.  You need to look for potential judgments and delinquencies that may result in a garnishment.  The most frequently seen in the SEC 8 arena would be furniture rental companies, credit card companies, old landlords, cell phone and utility companies.  If your applicant has delinquencies of any substantial amount with these types of companies, they are likely going to run into trouble paying their rent once their creditor tracks down where they are working and garnishes their pay.  This is one reason we see people job hopping.  They are always trying to stay one step in front of the creditor.