Section 8 - can the tenant run a business from the house?

[Sarah Humbargar]

We are under contract on a property with an existing tenant that has another 10 months on their lease with a HAP contract. I am unfamiliar with section 8 and we have never owned a property with a HAP contract, looking for some experts.

The seller has only provided us with the HAP contract and no additional lease. Is there supposed to a a separate lease in addition to the HAP contract?  Would the lease define if we permitted to make changes to the property if the tenant is still occupying the property, if the tenant permitted to run a home business from the property, or is that all through the housing authority? I didn't get much information from the local housing authority and I'm needing some expertise, section 8 is new to us and we are planning to redevelop the property, rezone, etc and knowing that this lease has most of the year remaining, we need to know what to plan for. 

[Nathan Gesner]

Originally posted by @Mary M.:

Originally posted by @Nathan Gesner:

Originally posted by @Sarah Humbargar:

Thanks all, this is super helpful. I assumed there should be a lease, the HAP contract  seemed overly simple. The seller provided me with a lease extension, but not a complete lease agreement so I need to get my hands on that. @Nathan Gesner you hit the nail on the head... I didn't realize until the inspection that the tenant is operating a massage business out of the second bedroom of the house and is only paying $125 a month in rent...just seem's off. I'm all about preserving affordable units, but not at all about supporting under the table work and abuse of taxpayer dollars. Thanks everyone for the input!  

 Just one more example of what's wrong with government welfare.

 Actually, this is an example of someone taking advantage of the system..... not the system failing.  There are MANY people that would be homeless without section 8 including manymany many elderly people and those that have issues that preclude making enough $$ to survive. 

 You should work for the government for a while. I did and it was no surprise to see the majority of welfare recipients were able-bodied, not elderly or disabled. It was also clear that a large percentage of them were working and not reporting income. Others walked in the door and asked for benefits the day they arrived from another state without any attempt to support themselves first. I've had dozens of Section 8 tenants and all if them were so gle mother's capable of working, except for one. The one that was actually disabled? She was a retired Doctor in her 70s with severe neck problems that prevented her from lifting her head enough to look someone in the face, yet she received only $225 in support. Meanwhile, a single mother of three was in perfect health yet she received $1025 in support, paid only $25 to live in a nicer place than any of her working peers, and ended up pregnant before it was discovered she had been earning money under the table for years while collecting Section 8.

I can give you dozens of examples like this that I witnessed first-hand.

Our local churches have an assistance fund. They don't support a 28-year-old single mother for four years when she is fully capable of holding a job. They don't have her fill out forms and receive benefits without checking her story. They don't hand over a check without also offering advice, support, and real concern. They provide assistance and then expect the person to put in the effort. Government welfare, particularly at the Federal level, is an impersonal machine that encourages fraud, waste, and abuse.