Section 8 Rent Payment went to old landlord -any hope?

[Kay Aula]

I recently purchased a home with a Section 8 contract in place. The purchase contract noted that the Section 8 contract transfers to new owner upon title transfer. Title transferred on the 22nd of the month but the next Section 8 payment from the local housing authority was deposited into the previous owner’s bank account. I have contacted my real estate agent, the seller’s agent, the previous landlord and the local housing authority with persistence and have informed them that this needs to be corrected but I have made absolutely no headway. No return calls from my realtor (first and last time we will use him!), no response from sellers agent, no response from seller. I did receive a phone call from a top executive at the housing agency through my persistent contact and it ended in him informing me that they could not do anything and suggested I contact the seller (already did that with no success!). 100% of the rent for the home is paid by Section 8 so I am out an entire month’s rent. The home is in Cleveland and I live in Northern California. Do I suck up the lost rent for that month or is there any hope in pursuing this in any other direction? Glad to be a new member here and to help in any way I can as an investor with property in Northern Ca and Cleveland. Thanks for reading!

[Kyle J.]

So the purchase contract mentioned that the Section 8 contract transfers to the new owner, but did you file the appropriate paperwork with the Housing Authority to notify them of the change in owner/payee? If you did and they still paid the previous owner, then you may have some recourse and be able to get the Housing Authority to help correct their mistake. But if you didn’t, well that’d be an oversight on your part. It still wouldn’t make it right for the previous owner to keep the money he unjustly received, but you’re going to have a hard time collecting it from him given that you’re out of state.