What to do if you Inherit a Section 8 tenant

[Tyler VanWinkle]

Hello BP community,

Just got my first duplex under contract!  Scheduled to close in roughly 2 weeks, during my due diligence I requested to see the current tenant lease, it is a month to month and I noticed a section 8 voucher attached.  The current rent is roughly $100 below market rent and the tenant has been in the property since 2017.  When I looked at the property I saw no issues with the up keep and everything looked well kept except for a few normal wear and tear issues with the trim or paint.

My issue is I have no idea how to go about getting set up with Section 8 and the property management company that I will be using said they do not manage section 8.  Should I not renew their lease after I close and get both units on the market and fill with tenants that the property managers have vetted?  If the tenant wants to stay and will sign a 1 year lease with a rent increase to market rent (which I think has to be approved by the housing authority) would this be a smart choice?  I was not planning on getting into the section 8 program and I also had planned on this being handled by a management company, I spent a lot of time with the current company I plan on using and they invested some time in looking at properties with me.  Any thoughts?  

[Stephen Kehoe]

Make sure your locality allows you to discriminate based on income source before deciding not to take section 8. It might be worth looking for another property manager. Section 8 is not that bad and tenants are harder to come by right now due to the Pandemic.