Section 8: Could Trash Pile Affect Section 8 Inspection?

[Chloey M.]

Hi Y’all!

Quick question about section 8:

I’m buying my first investment property, and it is already set up for section 8. We know that we will have to complete an initial inspection, and though the rest of the community looks decent, my only concern before buying is that there is a huge pile of trash in the back of the property on the same street as our prospective unit. It looks like the trash has not been picked up in weeks! To be fair, it could be a made-up overflow trash area that residents have unofficially created, but what I’d like to know is this:

In your experience, does anyone know if this is something that the section 8 inspector would knock us for? I'd like to know as I'm still in the due diligence period, and if this is an HOA issue, I can see an uphill battle on that one.

The minimum requirements only mention debris in and outside of the actual unit, but it’s also pretty vague about most sections of the standards. I am going to try and get in touch with someone from the office of the Housing Authority tomorrow, but I know how hard it is to get in touch with people, and I thought I’d start here and get your thoughts just to get a pulse on it in the meantime.

Any information from your experience would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[Tanvir Sattar]

@Chloey M. this could affect the property value by 5-10%. Here is an article with a little more information.