Tenants paying half the market rent in DC

[Peter Forrest]

I got my first 4-unit building in Washington DC a couple of months ago.  I am trying to get rid of the tenants who are paying half the market rent, and put section 8 tenants in the building.  The current tenants are paying less than half of what section 8 pays. For example, I have tenants paying $630, but I can get $1500 from section 8.  What is the best way to either raise the rents on these tenants or evict them? The property is under rent control, because I have other properties (single families).  The property currently costs about $3000 to run, and in total I am getting $2000 from the current tenants. When I fill the vacant unit, the revenues will jump to about $3500.  I put in about 130K in equity into this building so I am currently upside down. Washington DC is obviously tenant-friendly, but we got some great people here on BP so I figured this is a good place to start.

[Jeff Greenberg]

What does the lease say?  

It may be a little late to tell you this, but we always audit every lease during the inspection phase.  You may be learning a very hard lesson, about proper inspection and due diligence.

How long is their lease for? If the building is under rent control, you need to check the law.  You can be sure that they will get a pro bono lawyer if you don't follow the rules.