Section 8 Tenant Situation

[Clint Jones]

Hey BP,

Wanted to get some advice on a section 8 tenant situation we are dealing with.  Brief overview - my wife and I are a little over a year into a duplex house hack.  We inherited a section 8 tenant whose husband is not on the lease and he lives there most of the time but also lives with his mother some of the time.  We had an instance this summer where he and his adult son, who is on the lease, got into a verbal confrontation with a contractor we hired to do some siding repairs.  We talked with the tenant and the husband after this incident and basically told him that nothing like this could ever happen again in the future and he apologized and promised that it wouldn't.

Fast forward to today and our tenants husband, the adult son and one of our neighbors got into a verbal altercation/shoving because the tenants husband was apparently driving fast through the neighborhood.  We went outside to try and diffuse the situation which it eventually did when the husband and adult son drove off.

We told the tenant (the wife) that the husband is no longer allowed on the property since he is not on the lease.  Turns out the reason he cannot be on the lease is because he is a convicted felon.  For the most part they have been good tenants minus those two incidents, but we realize now that these types of situations will likely happen again in the future.

We are wondering what our next steps should be or if anyone has any insights into how we should handle this situation.  Contact Housing Authority to report the situation?  File a police report to get the incidents on record? ..?

The wife, adult son and two minor children are currently on a 1 year lease which ends June, 2020.

Thanks in advance for any advice/tips.

[Brent Paul]

If they agree to leave early I see do it.  Document what you can for now and if it comes to it you have evidence for court.

I think in the long run it's best to let them go.  They could potentially cause you to lose other good tenants.  By taking charge it shows your other tenants you care about them and your property.

Section 8 laws will vary by state, but in some cases they can lose their Section 8 voucher if they do destroy it and the state pays for the damages.  In my state if someone is living there that shouldn't be they lose their Section 8 voucher.  Happened to a neighbor of mine a few years back.  She moved in the boyfriend.  She was working part time with 2 kids and he was full time making decent money.  State found out and kicked them both out she lost her voucher forever.  They had to pay over 10k in back rent of him living there as well as other fees.  They left in the middle of the night and left everything there except their clothes.  It took them a solid 4 hours to get everything out of there and another week to rehab the property.