How to politely turn down section 8
Rental Property Investor · West Des Moines, IA · Member since 2018 · 447 posts · 64 votes
Hello
I am getting inquiries from section 8 tenants
How can I politely turn down? I don’t even have any permissions to rent to section8 tenants.Appreciate your inputs
Thanks
Hi Peter - Here in Atlanta you cannot refuse any applicant the right to apply to live in your rental property, even if you aren't part of the Section 8 program. For my next rental I do not intend to go section 8. I have another that is Section 8 (which I love my guaranteed check on!). My plan for dealing with the issue that you are facing is that I have strict criteria that I am use when reviewing candidates. And of course you want to use the same criteria for everyone due to the Fair Housing Laws. But I give Section 8 applicants have a 1% chance of meeting my criteria because of my 3x the rent income requirement. Hopefully when you explain your criteria, they will understand. It is a tough situation all over, because affordable housing is in such demand. Thanks for trying to be considerate about your approach. Best of luck...Melissa
Hi, Peter. Yes, you can't refuse any applicant the right to apply; however, here in Alabama, we are allowed to state to prospective tenants that a home is not section 8 approved. When dealing with individual owners in property management, it is up to each individual owner. We include in our ads which properties are approved for Section 8. Yet, they still have inquiries on other properties.
@Melissa Uppelschoten Hi Melissa good seeing you on BP. I have not heard that Georgia or any city including Atlanta has enacted laws like Oregon and Washington State where landlords cannot discern a source of income for an applicant meaning section 8 voucher is a source of income. It's my view unless you correct me about the city of Atlanta that Georgia and Atlanta does not have any requirement that a landlord must consider section 8 income = working a job income.
But I completely agree and also do the same and having a long list of written requirements that per hood fair housing you apply to everyone. The response is I have to treat everyone the same…
Like others here I have long list of requirements, including Very Importantly a bank account balance of 2 and a 1/2 X in this eliminates almost 90% of applicants including. In my view a bank balance of 2 and a 1/2 to 3X is a huge indicator of a saver and someone with financial good sense an important aspect of being a desirable tenant.
Put all of your requirements at the bottom of your rental add and direct all applicants back to the add to read the requirements this is a good compliance with Hud fair housing treat everyone the same
Take care, curt
Hi Curt! The Atlanta City Council passed the ordinance in Feb2020. Here is a link to details.
It seems like a lot of replies here aren't providing the answer you're looking for. I'll do my best. First it's important to understand that denying someone based solely on the fact they are section 8 may be illegal in your state. Your rental criteria must apply equally to everyone. So all the same things you can deny a normal applicant for.
1.) Income: The gov paying the section 8 person is considered income in many jursdictions there's source of income discrimination. So lets say the gov will pay $1000 a month in rent and the person makes $1000 a month at their job. We have basically income of $2000 a month or $24,000 for the year. If your rent is $2000 a month you most likely require 2-3x that amount. Therefore, the section 8 person would not qualify on the basis of income. The income requirement could be $4000-$6000 a month or $48,000 - $72,000 annually.
2.) Credit score: In my jurisdiction they just keep passing laws to make it harder and harder to deny section 8. I can't even use a set score anymore to deny applicants. However, they allow you to use things in the credit report that would indicate they are not trustworthy. So if you can't use a set score then go with something like this. "No late payments within the last two-five years."
3.) Tenant history: I typically go with no late payments within the last two years. No evictions, no excessive damage to property. Two years positive rental history.
4.) Criminal background: No violent felonies within the last 7 years. In my jurisdiction that is pretty much all you can do but other places may be more lenient.
5.) If the rent, you're asking for is higher than section 8 is willing to pay for your particular area you say something like "Does not the payment standards of the HCVP program." Only say this if it is in fact true. In my jurisdiction there's a website you can use to look up the max they'll pay for your property.
If a section 8 person can still meet all those requirements which seems very rare in my experience, then you may be forced to at least move forward with their application. No one can force you to make certain repairs in the unit. So section 8 has a massive inspection list. So if some things come back just refuse to make the necessary repairs. In my state the section 8 the maintenance requirements are far more than the standard requirements for a regular tenant.
For example it says you must apply a fresh coat of paint to the entire property. So as a last resort one can just say I'm not going to do the things that are required to meet the section 8 property standards. This is hard to do if you have a really nice unit that would easily pass inspection. Of course, you can read the list and make sure to point out any defects to the section 8 inspector.
I've always used high requirements for my rentals as they're all $500,000 +. Why on earth would I ever want to let someone with horrible credit, etc rent a half a million dollar place? Anytime I've ever had to evict someone they had bad credit and we decided to try an work with them. I've been accused many times by section 8 people of being racist or just using high requirements so they can't apply. It's kind of ironic actually; if I lowered my income standards just so section 8 could qualify then I'd be discriminating against everyone else who I would not let rent without my typical income requirements being met. I hope this helps. Took me quite some time and many accusations to figure all this out.
Hello
I am getting inquiries from section 8 tenants
How can I politely turn down? I don’t even have any permissions to rent to section8 tenants.Appreciate your inputs
Thanks
Your answer was in your post. Lol.
……thank you for your interest in our property. At this time the property has not been approved for section 8 and therefore we are not processing section 8 applications. We hope you find what you’re looking elsewhere.