Reply to Section 8 tenant not paying her rent

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[quote=Anonymous]You're getting a lot of bad advice here, OP.

You can't file for an eviction in DC now. You can't send a notice to quit. You can ask for mediation with DCHA (email Khalilah Payne kpayne@dchousing.org) but they can't make her pay, can't evict her, and are unlikely to pull her voucher (and you don't want them to because then you're going to get nothing and you can't evict her). If her income went down she could recertify and DCHA could pay more, but if it hasn't that's not an option.

You can't apply for most of the relief at https://coronavirus.dc.gov/rent --section 8 and rapid rehousing providers are excluded--but look into each one and see if your tenant might be able to apply for any of them. Your tenant, or maybe even you, could contact your councilmembers (including the at-large ones) and see if they can pay out of their constituent service funds--not all of them have one and they vary widely in their size and rules.

Your tenant could apply for a transfer voucher if she wanted to move, but it doesn't seem like she does and it takes a few months to get approved for the transfer and then she'd have to find a new place. And DCHA won't approve the move unless she's current on rent (or current on a payment agreement you set up with her) so tenants don't have much incentive to move.

But mostly you are stuck. You can talk to a landlord-tenant lawyer about this (Eddie Cordone, Emilie Fairbanks, Stephen Hessler, etc. basically you want someone who is in landlord-tenant court so much that they have their own office there...this is not an exaggeration; there are literally lawyers who have their own spaces in the courthouse to do negotiations and the like) but they aren't going to be able to get your tenant out--they can't even get out squatters, people selling drugs, tenants who scream all night or damage the property--nonpayment is the least of the city's concerns. And honestly, if they did get your tenant out you probably aren't going to find someone for a while. Be happy with the 80% you're getting. See if your mortgage lender will reduce your rate or give you some other relief.

--Section 8 landlord in a very similar position. And nonpayment is far from the worst of the tenant's behavior. But financially I'm doing fine with the DCHA portion.[/quote]

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