Covid times: Section 8 tanant missed their portion of rent

[Tim Siocheng]

I have one property that being rented out to section 8. This march i noticed that they missed their portion of the rent and I got charged with their utility bill.

I contacted my PM in regards to these concerns

1. PM told me that I “don’t have a ton of legal standing”since most of the rent has been paid (paid by section 8) and only a small portion is outstanding (which is the tenants portion of the rent)

I am not sure why I don’t have a ton of legal standing... from what i’ve read, I am still owed the tenant portion of the rent and late fees.

Am i missing something or changed because of covid?

I am not sure if i can start the eviction process due to covid,

But I don’t want to get played by professional renters. What can I do other than working with my PM to follow up on the rents?

(I might be giving the wrong impression that I am heartless, i do believe in helping people and i do that through charity not through my business.)

As far as the unexpected utility bill

As it turned out they never switch the utility bill under their name. (This what i was told by the PM; which is weird because they’ve been paying their utilities since they moved in October up until 12/31.)

I shouldn’t be liable for their utility bill as far as i am concerned because it was rented out as the tenant should be responsible for their utilities.

I believe that they owe me for the utility bill that was deducted from my account (through the property management).

What to do here if the tenants won’t transfer it to their name? Is it legal for me to not pay it and they would lose their utility service?

Or the property management company should be responsible for the bill since it’s their responsibility to make sure that the utilities were switched to the tenants name?

I Appreciate your thoughts and advice in this matter.

[Kathy Henley]

@Tim Siocheng They are in breach of their lease agreement, like anyone else, and would loose their voucher if you wanted to press the point. Work with them to catch up. One never wants to evict, work with them. Covid has hit hard but stimulus checks have been mailed from Washington. Ask for it. Yes, bill back the utilities and have them take over the account, if that is what the lease agreement says. We don't give keys to our tenants until they tell us their account numbers, as a verification system.