no deposit for section 8?

[Marc D.]

I noticed a lot of my fellow landlords in my area are not requiring a deposit for section 8. What is the thinking behind that? Do these tenants treat your property better? Is it because section 8 people don't have cash? Anyone here do that?

[Steve Babiak]

Well, for one thing, the section 8 program does not pay security deposits - the tenant must come up with that. Section 8 just pays rent to the landlord. So maybe these landlords realize that the section 8 tenants can't save up enough for a deposit, so why bother trying to get that which isn't there.