Heaven to Hell: A Section 8 Horror Story

[@railly36]

I am scaling away from Section 8. Their "Enforce your lease" policy means that an owner has to take a tenant that does not have any money to court. Section 8 conducts an inspection before you can rent it to someone, but they do not conduct an inspection after the tenant moves out. I have had tenants tear up my place, then call Section 8 to complain and Section 8 wants to make me pay for the repairs. The tenant has torn off doors, put holes in walls, and Section 8 does nothing but advise me to take them to court. So I have to spend money to go to court and try to get orange juice from an apple. No thank you.

[@AndrewHolmesRealEstate]

Sorry that happened to you. A lot of people have had similar experiences, while a lot of other people swear that Section 8 is the greatest thing. As always, it's up to us to do our due diligence and decide what is right for us.

[@rebeccalatham7059]

This was our only experience with Section 8, but I know landlords who have many Section 8 rentals, and they choose to do that. Our problem was that we were too nice and did not take action when things started going wrong. Next time, we will be more diligent. Also, in regards to your comment about Section 8 not paying for repairs, we knew that going in. We never expected them to pay. We were told that Section 8 tenants would be more careful, because they knew they would lose their voucher if they trashed a property. It is now up to us to report this person and, hopefully, have their voucher taken away so that they cannot destroy someone else's property. We, as landlords, are not blameless in this circumstance. We should have evicted her at the first sign of trouble. We kept giving her chances. Live and learn!

[@fromnothingtosomething4]

They told me the same shift about enforcing the lease. I don’t think I can deal with them

[@TheEbonybusby]

Not worth it.

[@AndrewHolmesRealEstate]

Maybe, maybe not. You're definitely not alone in feeling that way. Other's love section 8.

[@JT-il3fe]

Glutton for punishment aren’t you folks? If it doesn’t work we will just keep trying the same thing. Wait there is a word for that isn’t there?

[@rebeccalatham7059]

@JT-il3fe We are not trying the same thing. Read my other response to another comment to see the changes we are implementing. If we stopped landlording at the first sign of trouble, we would not be in the stable financial situation we are in today. We would be poor, and I would be a waitress in a greasy spoon in Arkansas. 😉 There is little inherently wrong with Section 8. You just have to stay on top of it and treat it like the business that it is, and not like a charity. This situation will not happen again. Just curious how many rentals you own and if you have ever tried Section 8.

[@delfimalvaro]

​@@rebeccalatham7059Love your determination, Mrs Latham. And totally agree, giving up when faced with challenges leads one nowhere. God bless!

[@rebeccalatham7059]

@delfimalvaro Thanks!