Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My section 8 neighbor is awful and I want her out. She and her two screaming kids were bad enough on their own, but then she had to move in her new boyfriend and it's been hell for my spouse & I ever since. Believe me, we didn't know this complex took section 8 or else we NEVER would have moved here. It drives me up the wall paying market rent in this expensive location while trash like them gets a free ride next door. A free ride AND terrorizes us with their noise!
They're cramming 4 people into a small 1 br apartment, and we're the winners who get to share their thin bedroom wall. Which means our bedroom has become uninhabitable, and now we basically live in a studio. NO other units in our complex have to share a bedroom wall with 4 people living in a 1 br--we're the only tenants dealing with this crap.
We know she is committing section 8 fraud because her boyfriend is not allowed to live there AND he has income. They're trying to sneak him in under the table. We've already complained to the landlord twice about their noise during quiet hours. It helped some, but they're still awful to live next to.
My husband and I are so fed up, we want to move but can't yet. We're excellent tenants, but I honestly feel like our landlord would rather us leave so she can jack up the rent on our replacements vs keep us happy.
So, who should I contact first to get the boyfriend out? It would be GREAT if the neighbor got evicted and lost her voucher, too. I want to contact my landlord, but I don't trust her to do anything about this. She likes to do as little as possible. Telling the neighbors to shut up is one thing, but having to follow through with an eviction when that guaranteed gov't $$ is coming in is something else.
I'm ready to file a report at the local section 8 office, but they told me it could take 2 months before an investigator comes out to verify what's going on. I think I'll explode with 2 more months of this.
Anyone have experience with this situation? Should I contact the landlord or section 8 first? Who is more likely to actually take care of this? TIA.
Your options are to file a fraud report with your local housing authority and calling the police if they are fighting after 11PM or locking their kids outside in the snow.
In many areas, the housing authority won't do anything and they will provide a free lawyer to block the landlord from getting a section 8 tenant out.
The police can't control how many people live in a house.
Write a letter to:
Secretary Dr. Benjamin S. Carson
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 7th Street S.W.,
Washington, DC 20410
Detail all the fraud and problems. Make absolutely sure you make it sound like some disgusting affront to law abiding american citizens. The current administration and Secretary appears to view the poor and those on public assistant as subhuman slime not worthy of a place in out society. Therefor, you have a great chance for them to respond and demand action.
After reading this post I had to signup and chime in....
First, I am not sure how you know someone is getting subsidized housing unless they told you directly and even then if you really feel you know the details well enough and suspect fraud is being done then call their hotline and report it appropriately.
What you should not do is go on to a public forum and then act superior to anyone who uses the Section 8. program or anyone who has subsidized housing for that matter by calling them "Trash" and "freeloaders" since I doubt you have any clue why or how somoene might find themselves in need of such assistance. You are no more better then them nor is it even any of your damn business, but that said, its overall really unattractive to act like that.
I am a former Section 8 LL. All had live in BFs, none were ever on the lease.
So you Fail as a LL. ALL LL I know want Background checks. & Add them to the lease... Happy Happy Happy I Don't rent from YOU! I am on Section 8 I Know the Rules & I Follow them as does my LL. Protection for ALL tenants. Guess that makes you a slum lord.... Hope no one Reports YOU! Cause some one will...JAIL TIME!!
You should be angry with the landlord, not Section 8 people at large. Landlords don't have to accept any old applicant who has a voucher. Landlords can have really strict application requirements. I also have a section 8 voucher, and my landlord needed good credit, multiple references, proof that I'd graduated from college (students aren't allowed), and a huge security deposit (same as other market rate tenants have to pay, which is really high in this area, and there is no subsidy for deposits).
So, if the landlord rented to someone who is "trash," who happens to get section 8, you need to blame the landlord.
If it was me, I'd make it easier for the landlord to get rid of the problem tenants, than to keep them. I'd call and call, and take videos and send them constantly, and email the housing authority and copy the landlord, just be a big enough PITA, that the landlord wants to shut you up. And, I'd definitely include any other incentives you can think of, such as damage being done to the unit. If the landlord is a management company, send copies of all emails and videos to the CEO and any upper management people you can find email addresses for.
Oh, yes, and call the cops whenever appropriate and email all of the above and the housing authority every time you do call the cops.
I've had really good luck getting things accomplished by starting to complain at the top. If you send complaints to the CEO, they're going to want the problem to go away quickly, and they have the power to get it done.
But, going forward, consider that any tenant that is a problem tenant could have been avoided by a landlord doing good screening in the first place, regardless of whether or not they have a Section 8 voucher.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
