Section 8 Tenant !!!!!!

[Account Closed]

I just purchased a townhome with a section 8 tenant in place. The housing authority pays $535 and she pays $190 for a total payment of $725. Prior to purchase, I reviewed the lease and all receipts. She has been on-time for the past 14 months. The lease expires 11/30/21.

I own an identical townhome just a few doors down that rents for $950/mo so I knew it was rented way below market. I bought the property at a great price with plans to increase rents in November. The Housing Authority case manager just mailed me their tenant agreement which shows them paying $535/mo and the tenant paying $60/mo for a total contract rent of $595/mo. Confused was an usnderstatement.

I called the case manager to ask why it’s so low and she said the max that they’re allowed to pay for a 2 bed 2 bath home is a total of $610 and that the previous landlord must’ve been taking additional payments. She also said a landlord could be terminated from renting to the housing authority if they take additional payments.

I enrolled the tenant on direct deposit from day 1 so she’s set up to pay $725. 

Does anyone have any experience like this?What are my options from here? Any wisdom or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

[Tracy Streich]

This is true.  If you take off the books payments from your tenant you can be barred from the program.  Just ride out the current lease and then non renew.   You can then list it on the open market and get more rent