Palatine, IL · Member since 2016 · 78 posts · 16 votes
I recently purchased a property in Cook County that has a section 8 tenant, which is a first for me. The tenant wants to renew the lease. Currently the rent is fully paid by HACC. How do I request for a rent increase with HACC. I tried contacting the case worker but there is no response. The link in HACC website under FAQs gives a page cannot be found.
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 80 posts · 90 votes
5y
@Steve O. I usually request my rent increases every two years. Unless it seems like it's too low. Then I try to do it every year to get it up. On a side note, If the voucher holder is has a 2 bedroom voucher and is renting out your 3 bedroom home their rent will be capped off at their voucher amount. I have made that mistake before. Now I try to make sure that they are have a voucher for the correct amount of bedrooms.
@Francis Rusnak As far as the timeline, It takes about a month to get approved or or not. so expect the increase to actually appear in about two months. I have all my rentals with the Chicago Housing Authority. I think each local area operates a little different. I did have one rental with the Housing authority of cook county, I think it took a little longer to get responses from them. However, their inspection process was much easier.
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 80 posts · 90 votes
5y
You can request an Increase through your owner portal on the Cha website. You may need to register if you are a new owner. Your properties will be listed on the website. https://www.chahcvportal.org/A... I’ve also noticed that Section 8 does not require that a lease be renewed. They only keep the original on file. the process can take a month or more. I typically try to explain to my tenants that they’re protected by their section 8 agreement therefore do not need to have a lease resigned every year.
Real Estate Broker · 3412 S. Harlem Avenue Riverside, IL 60546 · Member since 2015 · 6k+ posts · 5k+ votes
5y
@Sam P. you should connect with @Mark Ainley as his company GC Realty manages tons of section 8 properties in Chicago. He undoubtedly knows all the ins and outs of the process.
Flipper/Rehabber · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 123 posts · 38 votes
5y
On your Owner Portal -- Finance > Request Rent Increase
You have to submit comps off their gosection8 page and I've heard they are very slow now at getting back about this -- if anyone tried this recently I'd love to know a relevant timeline.
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 80 posts · 90 votes
5y
@Steve O. I usually request my rent increases every two years. Unless it seems like it's too low. Then I try to do it every year to get it up. On a side note, If the voucher holder is has a 2 bedroom voucher and is renting out your 3 bedroom home their rent will be capped off at their voucher amount. I have made that mistake before. Now I try to make sure that they are have a voucher for the correct amount of bedrooms.
@Francis Rusnak As far as the timeline, It takes about a month to get approved or or not. so expect the increase to actually appear in about two months. I have all my rentals with the Chicago Housing Authority. I think each local area operates a little different. I did have one rental with the Housing authority of cook county, I think it took a little longer to get responses from them. However, their inspection process was much easier.
Palatine, IL · Member since 2016 · 78 posts · 16 votes
5y
Hi Francis, Thank You for the information and sorry for the delayed reply. I am getting the rent from Housing Authority of Cook County (https://thehacc.org/) and they use rentcafe. There is no option within rentcafe for increasing the rent.
I contacted the caseworker through email and phone few weeks ago with no response and called her/emailed again this morning. Hoping to hear back soon, this time I will be persistent :)
Rentcafe says the unit is 3 BR only. Also I am going to ask a very basic question,apologize for that. The HACC website is not that helpful. The current lease is expiring April 30th. Do I sign a new lease with the tenant as soon as possible? The tenant had a new baby in December. Will that change the situation in regards to Section 8 in anyway?
As far as the lease I don't resign leases with my section 8 tenants. If your tenant is pushing for one just refer her back to her caseworker. Section 8 has so much authority over the rental that the lease is pretty much pointless. You can do a month to month lease just so that you have something on record if you need it. That's how I do it.
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 80 posts · 90 votes
5y
I had a HACC rental back in 2017 I never used that form but they may have changed their procedures. You may not need to do that form since you are doing a rent increase. I would read through your Housing Authority contract it should state in there what to do when you renew the lease.
In Chicago, the Housing Authority responds better through email. They usually get back to me in 24 to 48 hrs with any questions or requests. I would try emailing them and the case-worker.
Palatine, IL · Member since 2016 · 78 posts · 16 votes
5y
@Jonathan Hi Jonathan, The caseworker requested me to submitted the paper work for rent increase, I did that a month ago through email to the caseworker (since offices are closed) and have received no response from HACC, not even an acknowledgement. I am conflicted as to if I should escalate, but do not want to get the case worker upset also. Is this normal with HACC? what else should I do
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 80 posts · 90 votes
5y
@Sam P. That seems about right. It takes about a 4-6 weeks to here back from them and then another 4 weeks to actually show up in the statement.
I would think you should here something in the next couple of weeks, but they might be even slower now due to COVID.
The Chicago Housing Authority owner portal, has a rent increase tracker It's not always up to date but at least you can see if it was received. I would send the case worker and email just to make sure they got the request.
Check out this pod cast. @straightupchicagoinvestorpodcast. They should be having a section 8 episode in about a week or two.
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 15 posts · 5 votes
5y
@Jonathan Satizabal How/where do you get rent comps to submit to CHA in order to request a rent increase? I've been trying to ask this question to CHA but I haven't gotten a straight answer.
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 80 posts · 90 votes
5y
@Juan Castro, I just look at the comps on the MLS to see what the properties rented for in the area to come up with my rent price. Any realtor or leasing agent can give you this information. It's probably on Zillow also. I am also a REALTOR so I just look them up on the MLS.
I used a leasing agent to list my last property and we both came up with the same price range, that market rent was 1450 -1500 for a 3 bed 1 bath house in the area. We submitted the initial HAP contract to CHA at 1500 and they approved the rent at 1478. I think their valuation was really accurate. Truthfully 1500 in my opinion was too high for the property but it's better to go high with your initial offer and have then give you there approved amount. I also don't ask for rent increases every year. I try to do $50 every other year.
You don't need to submit comps to section 8 when you are requesting an increase. I just submit a rent request on line most of the time they accept it some times they don't. I don't really worry about it. I have and have had multiple section 8 properties. I think the best strategy is, try to max out the rent that they give you for each property and let it average it self out overtime.
They value properties a little different, I know square footage doesn't matter. So 1,000 sqft 3 bed home would have the same rent as a 2,000 sqft 3 bed home.
Basically it goes off of number of bedrooms. They give you a little bit more for the appliances that you provided and if you pay any utilities. So the best section 8 houses are small 3 beds with lots of appliances, one floor no garage and no basement...
I think you only need the comps if you want to contest the price but I've never done that.
Rental Property Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2009 · 52 posts · 9 votes
5y
Send it certified mail. Make sure the document is completed correctly. It it's not completed correctly they may not accept it and require you to submit again. But if completed correctly and timely, they will honor it. Check with your local apartment owner's association or attorney for help completing the documents needed.
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 15 posts · 5 votes
5y
@Jonathan Satizabal this info is gold. I have a section 8 tenant and I’m thinking about requesting a rent increase. I will put in the request without comps. Thanks for the info!
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 80 posts · 90 votes
5y
@Juan Castro, I don't know if that's the best advice. I had my first CHA tenant in 2012, I noticed just from the properties I had the the rents that CHA was approving were all around 1500 a month for 3 bed apartments in the area. So when I was purchasing and rehabbing properties I was keeping in mind. There are tables that have the rent amounts they're based off of the HUD AMI charts. Here's a link from the city of Chicago's website.
Palatine, IL · Member since 2016 · 78 posts · 16 votes
5y
Processing renewal for my section 8 tenant, Housing Authority of Cook County approved the rent increase, but at the same time is requesting the tenant to pay approximately $100 towards the rent after renewal, while the tenant does not have any rental obligations currently. Is this normal?
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 80 posts · 90 votes
5y
Yes that I s normal. The tenants obligation changes all the time depending on their income. They’re obligated to pay about 30 percent of their income towards rent.
Hi Sam, hope you are doing well. I just came across this Rent Schedule for the HACC. I believe these are the base rent prices, they could add to this depending on what appliances you offer and the utilities that the owner covers.
Palatine, IL · Member since 2016 · 78 posts · 16 votes
5y
Hi Jonathan, Thank You. The rates listed here are higher than what we are getting right now. Can we ask for a rate increase middle of the lease or wait till lease renewal