@Jonathan Fouabi
If the voucher is from NHA (Newark Housing Authority) which most are in Newark, they are notoriously tough on their inspections. We have failed inspections for light bulbs, loose door knobs, cabinet drawers not closing properly, door hinges being loose etc. From your description of the issues I'm pretty sure you will fail. Once you fail they will schedule your re-inspection about a week or 2 later. If you fail the re-inspection they will suspend payments and it can take months to reestablish your payments. For these reasons we usually do an inspection a week before the sec 8 inspection so we have time to fix any issues. I agree with @Brian Garlington to do the right thing and fix the issues that need to be fixed. I understand you are not receiving market rent but you knew that going in and hopefully you're making a decent profit already. I assure you resolving these issues the right way up front will save you money in the long run.
In reference to raising rent to market rate, doing that in Newark with Sec 8 tenants will take time. You will have to make major improvements to raise rent significantly due to rent control laws. Put in your increases with NHA every year and take care of the tenants and your will have a property that will pay you more money every year. Getting rid of tenants now is almost impossible. The only way to evict at the moment is if the tenant is destroying the property or there is an imminent safety risk. I hope this helps and I am rooting for you as we need more quality and responsible landlords in Newark. There's a lot of opportunity here if you do it the right way. If I can help in any way please feel free to reach out.
