Introduction In order to introduce you to the Section 8 program we have assembled information that will enable you to understand how the Section 8 Housing Assistance Program works and to point out the advantages of using the program. On this website you will find places where you may download model leases, change forms, and other necessary Section 8 forms. Please feel free to print these forms for your use. After the forms are completed you may choose to either mail them to our office or return them in person. Our office is open Monday Friday, 8AM- 4PM. We appreciate your interest in our programs and are looking forward to working with you to provide you with quality affordable housing. Please contact us if you have any questions, comments or suggestions. Thank you.
ADVANTAGES TO BEING A SECTION 8 LANDLORD There are many advantages to being a Section 8 Landlord - you never need to worry about finding tenants to fill vacancies because Voucher holders are always looking for good quality units to rent. The Section 8 department strives to refer participants from the waiting list and current participants who are looking for a change in housing to your units. The choice is yours- you make the selection based on your own selection criteria. Please remember the HAIC does not screen perspective tenants (other than for income eligibility). By agreeing to participate in the program you are not required to select a Section 8 tenant if the tenant does not meet your requirements. In addition, because you select one Section 8 family you are not automatically required to lease all of your units to Section 8 participants. Application fees are acceptable. The review of renter references is encouraged. As in all cases, fair housing is the law. Maximum upkeep of your property- since your property will be inspected initially and at least once a year thereafter, you will always know the condition of your property. Coupling this with periodic checks, you will be able to ensure that your property is maintained at its highest level. Most participants are protected should they ever experience a loss of income. HAIC will normally increase its portion of the contract rent if such an occurrence where to occur. When a market renter loses his/her job, what recourse do you have if they can t pay their rent? Slow pay, repayment arrangements and eviction often follow. Section 8 is definitely a bonus in this situation.
WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS FOR MY UNIT TO BE RENTED TO AN ASSISTED FAMILY? The unit must meet HUD Housing Quality Standards and the rent must be approved within HUD Fair Market Rents and market rate comparable (copy of HQS is available) HOW DO I MAKE A UNIT AVAILABLE TO VOUCHER HOLDERS? You may call HAIC to have the unit listed on our list of available units. You may also advertise in the newspaper with the phrase will accept Section 8. Our families look for those listings. WHAT DO I DO WHEN A VOUCHER HOLDER IS INTERESTED IN MY UNIT? You must screen the prospective tenant carefully to insure you are making a good selection. When one of our families contacts you, we can only certify to you their income eligibility for the program. The Section 8 office cannot provide a reference as to their expected behavior as tenants. To help you determine the suitability of a family, several options are open to you. Some of those options are: Contact utility companies for payment history. Landlord References contact former landlords regarding rental payments and care for the unit and premises. Make inquiries on source of income, talk to employers for references. Make inquiries of any drug-related or criminal activity. Arrange to meet the family at their current residence to see, first hand what sort of resident they are. Consider obtaining a credit history. We encourage all of the above screening methods as long as you do not discriminate. Discrimination includes tenant selection based on race, color,
religion, ancestry, sex, country of birth, handicap or family status. The prohibition against discrimination based on family status makes it illegal, in most circumstances, to refuse to allow children to live in a residential unit. NESSASSARY DOCUMENTATION: When you have selected a tenant, he/she will have a Request for Tenancy Approval form for you to complete. When the tenant submits the form to our office, a housing representative will contact you to schedule an inspection. You as the landlord will also have several other forms that we need to be returned to our office: INSPECTION: 1. Landlord Information Form: This form is used by HAIC to gain basic information about you. 2. Request for Lease Approval (RFLA): The RFLA is used to provide information about the dwelling and the payment of utilities. The RFLA also contains a certification that the property owner is not related to the perspective tenant. It is very important that you read this form carefully and provide all the required information. 3. The request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification: As in all matters relating to the reporting of income to the IRS, HAIC wants to ensure the accuracy of its records. It is important that the reported income is correct and is applied to the correct identification number. For this reason you must complete an IRS W-9 form. A unit that is ready for the participation in the Section 8 program must first be inspected by HAIC before any housing assistance payments for that dwelling can be made. This inspection is completed with the landlord or the landlord s agent, not the family. HAIC will not make assistance payments until the unit passes inspection. We suggest that before we come to inspect the unit, you conduct your own informal property inspection, take notes on any needed repairs and proceed with the corrective action to make the unit in rent ready condition. By having the unit ready, you will find that the initial inspection will proceed much more smoothly and the vacancy period for the unit will be reduced considerably.
All dwellings assisted under the Section 8 program MUST meet the following requirements: Sanitary Facilities: A flush toilet in a separate, private room, a fixed basin with hot and cold running water, and a shower or tub with hot and cold running water shall be present in the dwelling unit, all in proper operating condition. Food Preparation and Refuse Disposal: Cooking stove or range top with either an oven or microwave and a refrigerator of appropriate size of the unit, supplied by either the landlord or the family and a kitchen sink with hot and cold running water shall be present in the unit. Adequate space for storage, preparation and serving of food shall be provided. Space and Security: The dwelling unit shall contain a living room, kitchen area and bathroom. The dwelling unit shall contain at least one bedroom or living/sleeping room of appropriate size for two persons. Persons of opposite sex, other than husband and wife or very young children, shall not be required to occupy the same bedroom or living/sleeping room. Exterior doors and windows accessible from outside the unit shall be lockable. Smoke Detector: The dwelling unit shall contain a working smoke detector on every level and in an appropriate location to provide maximum warning to occupants should a fire occur. Thermal Environment: The dwelling unit shall contain safe heating that is in proper operating condition and provides adequate heat to each room in the dwelling unit, appropriate for the climate to ensure a healthy living environment. Illumination and Electricity: Each room shall have adequate natural or artificial illumination to permit normal indoor activities and to support the health and safety of occupants. Living and sleeping rooms shall include at least one window. A ceiling or wall type fixture and at least one outlet shall be present and working in the bathroom kitchen area. At least tow electric outlets or one outlet and an overhead light, shall be present and operable in the living area and each bedroom. Structure and Materials: Ceiling, walls and floors shall not have serious defects such as severe bulging or leaning, large holes, loose surface materials, severe buckling or noticeable movement under walking stress, missing parts or other serious damage. All floors must be covered (example: linoleum, carpet, rugs, hardwood, sealant, paint). The roof
structure shall be firm, and the roof shall be weather tight. The exterior wall structure and exterior wall surface shall not have any serious defects such as serious leaning, buckling, sagging, cracks, holes or loose siding. The condition and equipment of interior and exterior stairways, halls, porches, walkways, etc. shall be such as not to present a danger of tripping or falling All stairs with four or more steps require handrails; porches and balconies more then 30 inches high require guardrails. Interior Air Quality: The dwelling unit shall be free from dangerous levels of air pollution from carbon monoxide, sewer gas, fuel gas, dust and other harmful air pollutants. Air circulation shall be adequate throughout the unit. Bathroom areas shall have at lease an operable window or other adequate exhaust ventilation. Water Supply: Either public or private sanitary water supply is acceptable. Lead Based Paint: 1. Units that were constructed prior to 1978 and are occupied by a child younger than 6 must be inspected for defective paint on all interior and exterior painted surfaces of a residential structure. 2. Units that were constructed prior to 1978 and are occupied by a child younger than 6 with an elevated blood level (EBL) must receive treatment to all intact and non-intact interior and exterior painted surfaces of a residential structure. 3. Units that were constructed prior to 1978 and are occupied by minors over 6 years old can have some defective paint conditions and pass inspection. Access: The unit must have a private entrance without going through another dwelling unit. The building shall provide an alternate exit in case of fire. In addition at least one window in each bedroom must be sufficient size to permit the occupants to escape a fire and also to allow a fully outfitted firefighter to enter. An egress window must satisfy all four International Residential Code (IRC) criteria: 1. Minimum width of opening: 20 2. Minimum height of opening: 24
3. Minimum net clear opening: 5.7 sq. ft. (5.0 sq. ft. for ground floor). 4. Maximum sill height above floor: 44 If a dwelling does not offer adequate emergency egress it cannot be approved for participation in the Section 8 program. Site and Neighborhood: The site and neighborhood must be reasonably free of conditions that would endanger the health and safety of residents, such as dangerous walks, steps, instability, flooding, poor drainage, septic tank back-ups, excessive accumulations of trash, vermin or rodent infestation, and/or fire hazards. Sanitary Condition: the unit and its equipment must be free of vermin and rodent infestation. SETTING THE RENT: Whenever a new rental unit is offered to the Section 8 Program, the Landlord s first question often is, How much is the rent going to be? Our response will be, How much are you charging? We would like to bring each new unit onto the program at the Landlord s requested rental rate, however this is not always possible. In negotiating rental rates HAIC must consider the following factors: 1. HUD s Section 8 Payment Standard. 2. The size of the unit based on the number of bedrooms. 3. The utilities and other services paid by the tenant. 4. Rent Reasonableness. 5. Rent previously charged for the dwelling. HAIC establishes a payment standard for each bedroom size in the Voucher Program. There is a published rate for efficiency through six bedroom size dwellings. The payment standard represents the maximum amount of rent that HAIC is able to subsidize. The payment standard represents rental rates that include all utilities. So, if the tenant is responsible for a utility or service, this will, in turn, reduce the payment standard by an allowance given to the family to offset their utility expense. If the actual rent exceeds the payment standard, the tenant pays the difference to the
landlord. Please be aware however, that at the time of initial lease up, tenants are prohibited by law from paying more than 40% of their income for rent. Once HAIC has determined its maximum subsidy allowable, the final step is to make rent reasonableness determination. Rent reasonableness is simply HUD talk for a private market survey. HAIC must determine whether the proposed rental rate is reasonable based on the rents charged for comparable units in the unassisted market. Hopefully upon completion of the rent negotiation process the landlord s proposed rental rate will have been approved. Although this is not always the case, we believe the advantages of renting your unit through the Section 8 Program will far outweigh any small variance in the requested rental rate. LEASE AND CONTRACT SIGNING: Now that you have selected a tenant, the unit has passed inspection and the rent has been determined, it is time to sign the legal and binding documents, The Lease, Housing Assistance Payment Contract, and the Tenant and Landlord Statement of Responsibility. Before executing these documents, the landlord must provide proof of ownership of the property with a copy of either the deed or recent property tax bill. The Lease is a contract between the landlord and the tenant establishing the rights and responsibilities between both parties. The lease gives the family a right to occupy and use the interior and exterior of the unit for a specific period of time in accordance with the terms and conditions of the lease. The initial term of the lease must be for one year. After the initial one year, the lease is renewed for a specified time period. (Example: month-to-month, six months, etc.). A model lease is available in the Document Library section of our website, a Landlord may feel free to download and use our sample at any time. If a Landlord chooses to use his/her own lease, it must be approved by HAIC before the tenant can sign the agreement and a copy of a HUD Lease Addendum must be an attachment to the landlord s lease. The newly signed HAIC approved lease takes precedence over and voids any other lease that the tenant may have signed prior to the HAP Contract with HAIC. If the tenant remains in the unit after their initial one year, the tenant is recertified for eligibility and the unit is inspected for HQS standards annually. At recertification the landlord may request an annual adjustment rent increase, which must be approved by HAIC. The request must be submitted in writing to HAIC and the tenant sixty days prior to the renewal date.
The landlord may collect a security deposit as long as it is not in excess of private practices, or in excess of amounts charged by the owner to unassisted tenants. The Housing Assistance Payment Contract is between the Landlord and HAIC. Part A contains all contract information such as: name of tenant, dwelling address, initial rent to owner, etc; Part B contains all the contract terms. The Tenant and Landlord Statement of Responsibility is a statement signed by the tenant and landlord that acknowledges and explains some of the more important move-in rights and responsibilities that are discussed in this guide. Either the Lease or the HAP contract or both cover these important issues. The Resident Selection Supervisor will call you and the tenant to establish the move-in date once the unit passes inspection. If the tenant is currently in the unit, the lease will start the day after the passed inspection. If the unit has passed and the tenant has not moved in the unit, you and the tenant must agree on a date you will give the keys to the tenant and come to HAIC s office to sign all documents. The tenant must sign all documents before moving in. In order to receive timely payment, you and the tenant must sign documents promptly. If a tenant would move in before the unit passes inspection and before the contract signing, the tenant will be responsible for 100%of the contract rent until the unit passes and all documents are signed. RECEIVING PAYMENT: Once all the various documents have been executed HAIC will process your initial rent payment. Generally you can expect to receive your initial payment within two weeks of document execution. HAIC distributes routine monthly rental payments by the fifth working day of each month. All payments made to the Landlord will be electronically deposited into a checking or savings account. Electronic payments will appear in your selected account the day following release by HAIC, thus avoiding the delay associated with mailing a paper check. You may download the electronics payment enrollment form from the Document Library section of our website. HAIC also provides landlords the opportunity to determine the status of all rental payment via out website. Through our Landlord Access program you can view all rental payments made to your account. The information is provided in real time and provides a detailed breakdown of each payment by tenant (this is especially helpful to landlords with multiple Section 8 properties).
WHAT ARE MY RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITES AS A LANDLORD? As a Landlord in the Section 8 program you do have certain rights and responsibilities. You are to: Maintain your property in good condition. Complete repairs within a reasonable amount of time upon request by the housing authority or tenant, 24 hours for emergencies. The amount of time that is considered reasonable depends on the nature of the problem. Set reasonable rules about use of unit and common areas. Do not enter a unit without the tenant s permission and proper notice except for emergencies or tenant requested repairs. Collect appropriate security deposit as directed under the program and use it only as directed by state law. Comply with equal opportunity requirements. Enforce tenant obligations under the lease. Expect you tenant to: - Pay rent on time - Keep unit clean - Avoid illegal activity - Permit access for repairs - Avoid damage to property - Refrain from disturbing others - Allow only those occupants on the lease to reside in the unit Comply with terms and conditions of lease and HAP contract. Take action through Magistrate s Court to evict when tenant violates the lease. If you sell or transfer ownership of your property you must contact HAIC immediately so that we may inform you what proper documentation needs to be submitted.