Section 8 for Landlords: How the Housing Choice Voucher Program Works

Renting to a Section 8 tenant means renting to a household with a Housing Choice Voucher. The local public housing agency (PHA) pays part of the rent directly to you, and the tenant pays the rest. Before the tenancy starts, the PHA inspects the unit, checks that your rent is reasonable for the area, and signs a housing assistance payments (HAP) contract with you. You still screen and choose the tenant yourself, use your own lease with a HUD addendum, and evict only through court. The rules are in 24 CFR part 982.

How the money works

The PHA's monthly payment goes straight to you and counts toward the rent. The tenant pays the difference between the rent and the PHA's payment, and you can't charge or accept more than that from the tenant. If you receive more than the rent, you must return the excess (24 CFR 982.451(b)). Side payments are not allowed.

The family isn't responsible for the PHA's share. If the PHA pays late or not at all, that isn't a lease violation by the tenant, and you can't evict the family over it (24 CFR 982.310(b)). The HAP contract can include late-payment penalties against the PHA if you charge the same penalties to unassisted tenants and local practice supports them (§ 982.451(b)(5)).

What rent you can get

Two limits shape the rent:

• Rent reasonableness. The PHA compares your rent with similar unassisted units, considering location, quality, size, type, age, amenities, services and utilities. Your rent can't exceed the reasonable rent. Each time you accept a payment, you certify you're not charging more than you charge for comparable unassisted units on the property (24 CFR 982.507).
• The family's affordability cap. When a family first leases a unit with a voucher, and the gross rent is above the PHA's payment standard, the family's share can't be more than 40% of its adjusted monthly income (24 CFR 982.305(a)(5)).

Payment standards usually fall between 90% and 110% of HUD's fair market rent for the area (24 CFR 982.503(c)). Fair market rents are generally set at the 40th percentile of local rents for standard-quality units (24 CFR 888.113). In a high-rent neighborhood the voucher may not stretch to your asking rent. Ask the local PHA for its payment standards before you set a price.

The steps to a voucher tenancy

1. Screen the applicant like anyone else. Screening and selection are your job; the PHA isn't responsible for the family's behavior. You can look at rent and utility payment history, care of past units, respect for neighbors, relevant criminal activity, and other essential tenancy conditions. The PHA must give you the family's current and prior addresses and the names of those landlords, if it knows them (24 CFR 982.307). Apply the same criteria you use for every applicant; see how to screen tenants.
2. The family submits a request for tenancy approval to the PHA for your unit.
3. The PHA inspects. The unit must meet HUD's housing quality standards before approval, unless the PHA uses one of HUD's alternative inspection options. Smaller PHAs must inspect within 15 days of the request; larger ones as close to that as practicable (24 CFR 982.305(b), (f)). The standards now point to HUD's NSPIRE standards at 24 CFR 5.703 (§ 982.401).
4. Sign the lease with the HUD tenancy addendum. Use the same lease form you use for unassisted tenants, and add HUD's tenancy addendum word for word. The addendum controls if it conflicts with your lease. The lease must name the parties, identify the unit, state the term and rent, and say which utilities and appliances each side supplies (24 CFR 982.308). For pre-1978 housing, include the lead-based paint disclosure.
5. Sign the HAP contract. The PHA must execute it no later than 60 days after the lease term begins and can't pay you until it does. A contract signed after 60 days is void unless HUD grants an extension (24 CFR 982.305(c)).

A PHA can't approve a unit owned by the parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sister or brother of a family member, unless the approval is a reasonable accommodation for a family member with a disability (24 CFR 982.306(d)).

Deposits, repairs and rent changes

• Security deposit. You may collect one, but the PHA can bar deposits above private-market practice or above what you charge unassisted tenants. At move-out, give the tenant a written list of each charge and promptly refund the rest (24 CFR 982.313). State deposit rules still apply; see how to return a security deposit.
• Repairs found at inspection. Fix life-threatening deficiencies within 24 hours of notice and others within 30 days, unless the PHA approves an extension. The PHA can withhold or abate payments for unrepaired deficiencies (24 CFR 982.404).
• Rent increases. Notify the PHA at least 60 days before a rent change takes effect. The new rent must still pass rent reasonableness (24 CFR 982.308(g)(4)). State notice rules also apply.

Ending the tenancy

During the lease term, you can end the tenancy only for serious or repeated lease violations (including nonpayment of the tenant's share), violations of law tied to the unit, or other good cause. In the initial term, "other good cause" must be something the family did or failed to do. You can't end the tenancy then to sell, renovate, move in yourself or raise the rent (24 CFR 982.310).

Give the tenant written notice of the grounds at or before the start of an eviction. Send the PHA a copy of any eviction notice, and evict only through court (§ 982.310(e)–(f)). Payments continue while the family stays in the unit during the eviction (24 CFR 982.311(b)).

Can you refuse vouchers?

Federal law doesn't require landlords to join the program, and the regulations give no owner a right to participate (§ 982.306(e)). But many states and cities ban source-of-income discrimination, including New York, Washington, California and Colorado. In those places, refusing voucher holders is illegal. See fair housing laws for landlords and rental application questions landlords can ask. For the lease itself, the lease agreement generator produces a standard lease you can attach the HUD addendum to.

Sources

Official regulations cited above, read on Cornell LII's mirror of the eCFR (checked 2026-10-30):

• 24 CFR 982.305, PHA approval of assisted tenancy
• 24 CFR 982.306, PHA disapproval of owner
• 24 CFR 982.307, tenant screening
• 24 CFR 982.308, lease and tenancy
• 24 CFR 982.310, owner termination of tenancy
• 24 CFR 982.311, when assistance is paid
• 24 CFR 982.313, security deposit
• 24 CFR 982.401 and 982.404, housing quality standards and owner repair duties
• 24 CFR 982.451, housing assistance payments contract
• 24 CFR 982.503, payment standard amount and schedule
• 24 CFR 982.507, reasonable rent
• 24 CFR 888.113, fair market rents methodology
• N.Y. Exec. Law § 296 (lawful source of income) and RCW 59.18.255 (Washington source of income)