Renting a House Section 8 Questions

[Marc Possoff]

Have property that I completely renovated and gutted with my cousin about 13 years ago who’s a contractor. We did it without permit but the house is solid and up to codes. We have had a family member living in there and now they are going to be moving out of state. We did charge the family member rent. 

Anyway was thinking about section 8 and what’s involved and if this will be a difficulty process or not with any issues It’s a 2 bedroom house about 850 sq ft. 

Thanks!

[Abel Curiel]

Originally posted by @Marc Possoff:

Have property that I completely renovated and gutted with my cousin about 13 years ago who’s a contractor. We did it without permit but the house is solid and up to codes. We have had a family member living in there and now they are going to be moving out of state. We did charge the family member rent. 

Anyway was thinking about section 8 and what’s involved and if this will be a difficulty process or not with any issues It’s a 2 bedroom house about 850 sq ft. 

Thanks!

Hello Marc,

Section 8 has an inspection process where they'll verify that you're the owner of the property and check out the physical condition of the property. The inspection can typically be ordered within 1-2weeks of ordering it and the application process should take about 1 month. Here in New York, some rental assistance programs even pay the property owner a 1-month holding fee for holding the apartment during the application process. Nice little incentive!

The process isn't too difficult. Any issues that arise during the inspection will be clearly explained so that you can make necessary changes/repairs during the application process. Being that the building is up to code, you might only come across minor things like deep cleaning or adding window guards.

I think the Section 8 strategy is a solid one especially during uncertain times.

Best of luck to you moving forward!

Abel