Section 8 screening questions

[Manuel Salce]

@Martin Morales and I are renting out a protperty in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I’m getting a ton of applicants who have section 8 vouchers. From my understanding the government pays a portion of their voucher and the tenant pays the rest. Can I ask them what’s the portion that they’re responsible for? In general what screening questions should we ask section 8 applicants?

[Patti Robertson]

The tenant portion is pretty easy to figure out.  30% of their income is allocated to be spend on housing - utilities and rent.  The utility budget comes out first and whatever left is their rent amount.  I require a SEC 8 tenant have verifiable, reliable income of at least one times the rent amount.  I will make an exception if they are going into a small property or one with shared walls that will have a low utility budget.  I know that if they don't have this amount of income they will likely not get approved for my market level rent.