Section 8 not honoring original agreement
Hey BP,
I recently renovated a 3 bedroom unit in my East Oakland Duplex and put it up for rent. I decided to accept section 8 applications and ended up selecting a single mom who lives with her 12 year old daughter. She was already living in a 3 bedroom home with a 3 bedroom section 8 voucher at the time she applied to live in my unit. We signed all the necessary forms provided by section 8, went through the inspection and my new renter was given a new 3 bedroom voucher and the agreed upon rent was $2900 a month. I still have the paper that was given to me from the HUD inspector. From there we signed a lease agreement and my tenant moved in on July 25th, 2017.
Today I received a call from section 8 saying they cannot give my tenant a 3 bedroom voucher. They screwed up and should have never given her a 3 bedroom voucher. She used to have 3 kids living with her but now she only has the one so they want to offer her a 2 bedroom voucher that maxes out around $2200 a month. It's a $700 a month difference and rents cant be increased for 12 months. I can accept the new offer and eat the loss, or I can deny it and my tenant would technically need to start looking for another place. However, I do have a third option.
My new renter is partially disabled and submitted an application for "Reasonable Accommodation" to section 8. Reasonable accommodation means section 8 can break certain rules if a need is there. If for example my tenant needs a live in aid, or has a bunch of medical equipment that needs to be placed somewhere, they may approve the request to have a third bedroom. Problem is I would have to deny the offer for the 2 bedroom pay, wait for the decision on the reasonable accommodation, and then resubmit the forms in order to get $2900. If I go this route, I will not receive any money from section 8 until the new application is turned in and it can take 1-6 months for the reasonable accommodation to be approved. Thats a long time for my tenant to be living there basically rent free. There is also the possibility that the request for the third bedroom is denied. I would have waited all that time for nothing and lost a lot of money. This is my first time dealing with section 8 and I really just want them to honor the original agreement. I hate the thought of evicting the lady since I really like her, she just moved in less than a month ago, and she is disabled. Plus it isn't even her fault. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.