Interested in Becoming a Landlord?
The Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8) The Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8) is a federally funded program monitored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The program is administered by local public housing agencies and provides rental assistance to eligible low-income households to enable them to obtain decent, safe, and sanitary housing. The program pays a portion of the rent directly to the landlord and the assisted family is responsible for the remainder of the rent.
The role of the landlord in the voucher program is to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing to a tenant at a reasonable rent. The dwelling unit must pass the program's housing quality standards and be maintained up to those standards as long as the owner receives housing assistance payments. In addition, the landlord is expected to provide the services agreed to as part of the lease signed with the tenant and the contract signed with the Housing Authority. The Housing Authority completes a rent reasonableness study on every unit before the initial leasing can take place and each time a rent increase is requested after the first initial lease term. This is done to ensure that the rent for your unit is reasonable compared to other similar units in the area.
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Benefits of Becoming a landlord
- Free advertising of your available rental properties
- Free annual inspections of your unit
- You may use your own lease in accordance with state and local laws
- Direct Deposit rental payments directly from HATC
- Steady monthly rental payments
- Greater pool of potential renters
Property Owner Obligations
- Screen all applicants for suitability as tenants
- Collect application fees, deposits, and the tenant’s monthly portion of the rent
- Comply with landlord/tenant and Fair Housing laws
- Comply with the terms of the lease with the tenant
- Comply with the terms of the HAP Contract and tenancy addendum
- Notify the Housing Authority if family vacates the unit and return any housing assistance payment after the family has vacated the unit
- Make timely repairs to the property
- Permit inspections
- Notify the Housing Authority of any owner change immediately to ensure timely payment to appropriate owners
Inspection Process/ Inspection Checklist
Direct Deposit Forms
As a landlord, it is important for you to understand and implement fair housing to all families. You may find more information about housing and discrimination on HUD’s website under Fair Housing.
HATC is committed to providing services to accommodate the needs of persons with disabilities, including information on the availability of accessible units. If landlords have accessible rental units, they should consider listing their units with the HATC and Go Section 8.
Need information about your legal rights? The Austin Tenant’s Council website offers information on many topics related to your rights and obligations. Visit Website
For additional questions, contact Director of Voucher Programs and Homeless Initiatives at 512-854-1883.
