All Forum Posts by: Charlie Moore

Whoops sorry I should have stated it is FEDERAL LAW which includes Texas.

Review below:

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of:

• Race or color
• National origin
• Religion
• Sex
• Familial status (families with children)
• Disability

Under the Fair Housing Act, the following activities are illegal:

• Refuse to rent or sell housing
• Refuse to negotiate for housing
• Make housing unavailable
• Set different terms, conditions, or privileges for sale or rental
• Provide different housing services or facilities
• Falsely deny that housing is available for inspection, sale or rental
• For profit, persuade owners to sell or rent (blockbusting)
• Deny any access to or membership in a facility or service (such as a multiple listing service) related to the sale of housing
• Refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules or services if necessary for a disabled person to use the housing
• Refuse to allow a disabled person to make reasonable accommodations to his/her dwelling
• Threaten or interfere with anyone making a fair housing complaint
• Refuse to provide municipal services, property insurance or hazard insurance for dwellings, or providing such services or insurance differently

This Federal Law. 

Something all landlords should keep in mind is that your purpose is to protect your investment above all else. Sometimes this means you must make decisions that bends or gives the impression of ignoring legislation. When you believe a applicant is a higher risk than another you should be rejecting their application for that reason and ignore the false perception that it may be discriminatory. Fear of doing business will destroy your business. If you do not choose the most qualified, regardless of the order they were received, you are allowing a element of risk to creep into your screening process.

Bottom line is, as the landlord, you are 100% responsible for the  applicant you choose. If you are afraid to manage your business to the highest standards only you are responsible for the outcome.  

Any time a landlord gets a bad tenant it is due almost entirely to their screening process. Second cause is naturally poor training of the tenant by the landlord. 

@John Teachout Someone may prefer the fact that Section 8 is guaranteed to be paid the 1st of every month. 

Why not price it higher, you can always decide to take less, voucher or not.

@Charlie Moore most likely this is a FHA violation as you are discriminating against anyone who is not Sec 8. It might be ok to say Sec 8 welcome but I would avoid saying only for many reasons this being one of them.

@Charlie Moore If "source of income" is a protected class where you invest (as already said, it is not in federal law) Then no you cannot say section 8 only.

i am not sure why you are having trouble pricing the unit. Just price it high and let section 8 negotiate you down.  I would just price it at $1100.  List it on "Go Section 8" if that is in your area. 

One thing to remember, the section 8 guidelines are normally for total cost of housing. That means the amount needs to cover rent AND utilities. If the tenant is paying utilities (and there is no assistance available for utilities) - that needs to be subtracted from the rent. Section 8 rents normally look substantially higher than the market rent in typical C areas but part of it is often the utilities piece. Most importantly, Section 8 will negotiate what rent they are willing to pay with you (not up but down) so just list at what you want and negotiate from there. 

Don't say Section 8 only and don't advertise different prices.

Fair Housing States: 

You have the right to expect that housing will be available to you without discrimination or other limitations bases on your race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

This includes the right to expect the following:
Housing in your price range available to you without discrimination
Equal professional service
The opportunity to consider a broad range of housing choices
No discriminatory limitations on communities or location of housing
No discrimination in the financing, appraising, or insuring of housing
Reasonable accommodations in rules, practices, and procedures for persons with disabilities
Asking about physical disability and selecting unit type.
Non-discriminatory terms and conditions for the sale, rental, financing, or insuring of a dwelling; and
To be free from harassment or intimidations for exercising your fair housing rights.

You cannot and should not have two sets of prices. What you want for the unit will be what you advertise and if the market can bear and absorb that rate then it is by someone who is ready and able, regardless of subsidies. 

If Sec 8 pays above market rates, just advertise it at the Sec 8 rate you are trying to get and put "Sec 8 welcome!" in the ad.  The non-sec 8 can still rent at the higher rate if they want, but most of your applicants would probably be section 8.

In PA, a property management company needs to have a licensed broker.  That doesn't necessarily have to be you, but the broker must be involved in the day-to-day to some extent.

So my question to you is:  you could do it, but are you sure you really want to?  Tenants will test you, owners think you are ripping them off.  No one is ever happy.  It's a non-stop complaint department.  

Remember, you'll be taking on all the problems that the owners don't want to deal with, but they expect you to perform a monthly miracle of collecting rents on or before the first of the month and having that in the owner's hands by the 2nd.  Good luck!