I live in Illinois. How do I go about renting to section 8 tenants?

Question

I live in Illinois. How do I go about renting to section 8 tenants?

Answer 1

Better question is why would you want to. The use of Section 8 rents will artificially raise the rental rates in the area, making it impossible for hard working folks to actually rent. Not good, don't be greedy, soon your property will turn to c**p and no one will want it.

Answer 2

Mistake. I did it and my houses got run down fast. It cost me more money to keep them up than I made from the rent. Most sec 8 people do not care to take care of other peoples houses

Answer 3

You need to contact your Apartment Assoc. or your housing department and they will give you all the forms you'll need to fill out and then once they process you they will have an inspector come out to make sure all of your properties or property is up to code and clean and 'safe' living conditions as far as heating and cooling any appliances locks on the doors windows, electricity, outlets, water, toilets EVERYTHING. =)  But Sec. 8 is great because it is the majority of the rent and it is guaranteed money for the landlord.  

Answer 4

I think you have to apply to the city you live in to start with.  Then there are inspections because your house has to be just so.  It is a lot of work to prepare the house for a family who could care less about it, than it is to make money.

By keeping it out of the Section 8 market, you keep control over who lives there and gives you a better chance to rent to someone who will at least maintain things inside or call you right away if there is a problem.  You can't do that if your house is on the Section 8 list.  You have to take who they send whether you like them or not.  I'm in Illinois too (Joliet) and I live down the street from a couple of Section 8 places.  Both buildings look like they are ready to collapse.

Good luck, and I hope this helps.

Answer 5

As others have said, this is not a good idea for your property.   90% of the time you will have excessive damage and it is very hard to get them out and impossible to collect for damage.

One poster said that section 8 raises rents in an area, but the opposite is true.  Section 8 sets your rent, you can not determine your own amount and they tend to keep it at 80-85% of the market rate.    The deterioration of the neighborhood because of the behavior of section 8 renters tends to bring the rate down for everyone as the neighbor becomes less safe and less desirable.

All of that said.....you call the housing authority and tell them you wish to sign up and schedule an inspection.   They want you to pass the first time, so they send out a check list for you to get ready before the inspectors show up.    After the inspection you are free to accept vouchers from renters who qualify for your rental (based on family size).

Be warned, they do not check anything.   Do a background and CREDIT check just as you would any other renter.   CALL the previous landlord, with the number section 8 will provide you, not the renter.

Section 8 will tell you how much rent you can charge.   The renter pays you 1/3 of their income and section 8 pays the rest until the amount they set for you is reached.

Answer 6

In theory, Section 8 tenants are the same as any others, they just pay the rent differently. However, you may be required to upgrade the units beyond what you are willing to do. If they set rent below your norms simply refuse that tenant, don't take money on the side.

Though you may hold them to the same standards as any other tenant - including the application requirements and adherence to the terms of the lease - once they are in they are harder to evict.

The fact you accept Section 8 families often scare away "normal" tenants. Once you have problem Section 8ers the others will quickly bail.

The only way I would consider it is if I had one-bedroom units. This means you can restrict the number of occupants to 2 only and can thus justifiably keep out families. That would probably mean elderly/disabled tenants.