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Section 8 Landlord FAQ

1.) A tenant with a Section 8 voucher wants to rent my house or apartment. What do I do?
Your tenant has a form from us called Request for Lease Approval, or what we commonly call a "Green Sheet" (they are printed on green paper).
  1. Your tenant will give you the "Green Sheet." Fill it out and get it back to us.
  2. Our office will contact you to schedule an inspection.
  3. Once the unit passes inspection, the tenant can move in. You and the tenant need to sign a one year lease, and you need to sign a HAP contract with us.
Once these steps are complete, payments begin. Please keep in mind that we cannot start a new lease with an existing tenant until the previous lease has ended and that we will not start assistance until the inspection has passed and the tenant has keys to the unit.

2.) How does payment work?
With Section 8 the housing authority is responsible for part (or sometimes all) of the tenant's rent. We make payments directly to the landlord. Our payments come at the beginning of each month.

3.) What about raising the rent? Are there limits?
As long as we can determine that the rent is comparable to others in the surrounding market, there is no limit to the amount you can raise the rent. When a family first moves into a unit there is a limit to how much rent they will qualify for. That limit, however, is based on the particular family and not on the house or apartment. Also, this limit only applies when a family first moves in.

Since we require a one-year lease for the first year of the tenancy, the rent cannot be raised during that time. The major difference between raising the rent in a Section 8 tenancy and any other tenancy is that we require a 60-day notice (rather than the common 30-days). This allows us time to process the increase and determine how it will affect our payments and the tenant's payments.

4.) What about evicting tenants who have Section 8? Is that hard?

All Section 8 tenants must have a one-year lease when they first move into a unit. You can still evict a tenant during the first year, but during that time it must be for cause. After the first year our tenancies typically become month-to-month, with the option of the 30-day termination. Your rights are the same as they would be for any private market tenant.

We do not get involved in the eviction process: our only request is that you send us a copy of any eviction notice that you give.

5.) I have a house or apartment for rent and I want to advertise to Section 8 voucher holders. What can I do?

Add your unit to our list of houses and apartments that accept section 8! You can do this by downloading our Advertising Form and mailing it back to us, by coming into our office or even by just calling our office and telling the receptionist you are a landlord with a unit to advertise.