I own 20 rental properties in NYC and I would never rent to a tenant with a voucher.

I have been a landlord in NYC since the early 1990’s. I have a great knowledge of rental policies in NYC. I rented a few of my units to tenants who had government vouchers. The Section 8 voucher was good. They paid the rent direct deposit in full on the first of the month. Section 8 honored the lease. The tenants I rented to who had FHEPS was a major mistake. FHEPS never paid the rent on time. They mailed me different checks throughout the month in all different amounts. After 6 months the checks completely stop coming. FHEPS violated the lease by never paying the rent on the 1st of the month. They required me to give a lease to the tenant indicating the rent was due on the first of the month but they never paid the rent on the first of the month. I own 20 rental properties in NYC and I would never rent to a tenant with a voucher. Corporation

The city lies to both the people using vouchers and the landlords.

I doubt you want to hear this but I want to make the record clear, the city lies to both the people using vouchers and the landlords. We're told the voucher pays the landlord in full the last day of the month for the next month, ex July 31 for August rent. We're told it's the entire amount at once.That no matter our Public Assistance status if we get accepted into an apartment the voucher remains active till the end of the current year. That way if we're in a lease and we lose the case both the tenant and landlord will be fine till the end of the year.Some people on the voucher try to do better or have an unfortunate loss of work and either way lose the case, we get told we'll be fine, and that's a lie from the city. Also tenants are never told what they will have to pay until the paperwork is done, so sometimes it winds up being too much for the tenant to pay and they never knew. I know there's other horror stories But for the people who use the vouchers and pay their portion we get screwed worse then the landlords. Because at the end of the day either we become homeless again or never get housed.
Martha.

I am suffering depression since renting to a fheps tenant.

I don’t want to bore with details of my life, but I am a very small landlord with 2 rental properties. I rented one of my properties to a family who had a fheps voucher. Fheps stop paying the rent because their public assistance case got closed. I didn’t know that would happen. I am out of 15 months rent money now and facing foreclosure. I am suffering depression since renting to a fheps tenant. I thought I was doing something good by renting to a family who seemed to be in need. I am at my wits end. Sarah

I don't know what to do and I am at my breaking point.

My fheps tenant stop paying me their rental portion before covid started and I was trying to evict the tenant. The judge kept delaying the eviction. Now I am stuck because I couldn’t evict before covid and I can’t evict during covid. I am at a loss of $15,000. I am a senior with 1 rental property. I don’t know what to do and I’m at my breaking point. I may end up homeless because of this situation.

Do not rent to someone with a city fheps voucher and its not the tenant fault.

My city fheps tenant had to file for unemployment due to the pandemic. She was receiving the increased amount of unemployment provided by the federal government. Public assistance has closed her case and city fheps is no longer paying the rent because of the extra unemployment. There is no way she can pay the rent with the extra unemployment but city fheps stop paying her rent. Now I will have to evict her once the courts allow. Do not rent to someone with a city fheps voucher and its not the tenant fault. The program should be banned and the city should be sued for forcing landlords to give a lease for 1 year and the city doesn’t honor the lease. Jerome

I'm going to keep my properties empty until the eviction laws change.

I have been a landlord for more than 10 years in New York City. I am now keeping many of my properties vacant and just letting them increase in value. I’ve had a few Section 8 tenants and fheps tenants. I have nothing good to say about those tenants. Housing court in New York City doesn’t allow you to evict any tenant without putting you through months of financial stress. I’m going to keep my properties empty until the eviction laws change. I love this blog and I am happy that someone has decided to do something to help property owners. Property Owner Marina

I made a deal with City FHEPS and they are not paying the rent.

Being a landlord in New York City is extremely hard. It is very hard to evict a tenant and the pandemic has made it impossible. I rented to a person who had the City FHEPS voucher and I thought it was a solid thing to do because City FHEPS is paying the rent. The tenant told me that they closed her public assistance case and City FHEPS stop paying the rent. I made a deal with City FHEPS and they are not paying the rent. I have no idea what the tenant public assistance case has to do with City FHEPS paying the rent. I advice any landlord to not accept this program. They will stop paying rent without warning. The program absolutely doesn’t care about the tenant, and they definitely don’t care about landlords. Adam

I am missing many rental checks!

I should have known that something was wrong with the fheps program when they gave me a bonus check of $4300, if I rented to the tenant. After the sixth month of renting to the tenant fheps stop sending me checks. There is no one I can call or talk to about the problem. I talk to the tenant about it and she is doing nothing. I am missing many rental checks. I can’t wait for the eviction ban to stop so I can start the eviction process.

It was a terrible decision to rent to a tenant with NYC FHEPS.

I wish I could turn back the hands of time because if I could I would have never rented my apartment to someone who has the NYC FHEPS voucher. The tenant moved in and never paid their portion of the rent which was only $260. This tenant worked and just refused to pay their portion. NYC FHEPS never paid the rent on time, and I’m missing many rental payments. It is not financial or class discrimination to not want to accept a tenant who has a voucher. Its basically not wanting to rent to someone who has no morals and wants to live rent free. It was a terrible decision to rent to a tenant with NYC FHEPS. Dexter

I no longer want to be a landlord in NYC!

I have several rental properties and some of my tenants have Section 8, and FHEPS. I’ve had nothing but trouble with the FHEPS tenants. FHEPS stop paying me rent because the tenant no longer qualified for FHEPS due to their income. The tenant is not paying me any rent because they expected FHEPS to continue paying the rent. I am now in the process of evicting the tenant which is going to be a nightmare in NYC. Once my rental properties are empty I will NEVER take another voucher tenant.

Don't rent to NYC FHEPS tenants....

I had a NYC FHEPS tenant. The rent was paid for the first year, but tenants only did pay one time. The tenants a couple both left jobs, they were not fired. They have me wait for more than 9 months no rent payments yet and I can’t get them off my property. All they do is play video games, and run around the house like animals live there, smoke marijuana, don’t clean and now my house have rants and roaches due to the negligence and nasty tenants. I still have to do repairs and pay the mortgage. I did work so hard to get this house, and now I have to deal with horrible tenants who scam the system. I don’t want to be a landlord anymore in NYC, I feel like putting the house on sale and moving. Don’t rent to NYC FHEPS tenants, I rather have the house empty. -Anonymous

The class of tenant is not ideal.

I thought I was doing the right thing in renting to a FHEPS tenant. The family was in shelter and needed a place to live. The tenants turned out to be the worse tenants I have ever had. The couple would argue all the time. They smoked cigarettes and weed every day. They voluntarily left the apartment due to domestic violence issues. I’m now tending to think that tenants who have these type of rental programs have them for a reason. They are not responsible. They are not ideal tenants.

My property is in Foreclosure because of FHEPS.

I have been trying to get help with the person I rented an apartment in the home that I reside. When I rented the apartment I was under the impression that she had the fheps rental voucher that would be paying her rent. I thought that was the terms of the lease. The fheps program hasn’t paid me any money for months and I can’t evict her. I don’t want to evict her but if I am not receiving rental money the fheps said they would pay what am I supposed to do. I am disappointed in Mayor Deblasio for creating a program that is border line fraudulent and actually contributing to the homeless problem.

I would avoid accepting a FHEPS tenant.

I rented one of my apartments to a FHEPS tenant. From day one they were nothing but a headache. Also FHEPS doesn’t pay the rent on time. I got different checks throughout the month. From my experience a FHEPS tenant may be a class of person that won’t be a good tenant. Evicting them would have been a nightmare so I paid the tenant $1000 to leave the apartment and they accepted. This is what it has come to in being a landlord in New York City.

Stick to the basics as a landlord.

I have several rental properties, and I agreed to rent to a tenant who had the fheps voucher. The $4300 bonus they paid me seemed like a great incentive because I have a lot of expenses as a landlord. I make no profit from the rental income but I am hoping my property values will increase which would lead to profits in the future. The fheps tenant turned out to be a problem tenant. I am currently trying to evict them and its going to be difficult in New York. Fheps never pays the rent on time, and I don’t receive rent for weeks at a time. Stick to the basics as a landlord meaning get a tenant who is employed with good credit. Dexter, Bronx NY

They never paid me rent after 4 months!

I have a few rental properties and I rented one to a tenant in the Bronx who had City FHEPS. They paid the first 4 months up front and I received a $4300 bonus. The paperwork and processing took so long and it was a nightmare which is probably why they pay a $4300 bonus which you can use to buy a year supply of Tylenol. This program will only cause a landlord headaches. After the 4th month I didn’t receive any rent. I can’t even reach anyone on the phone who works for City FHEPS, and 311 is useless. To date I haven’t received any rent and it is impossible to evict a tenant in NYC. This has been one of my worse decisions as a landlord.

I will never rent to another FHEPS tenant!

I thought during this climate in the rental market with so many people unemployed that it would be a good idea to rent to a tenant who has a voucher. It took the FHEPS program a long time to send me the initial rental checks. I loss a month of rental income waiting for them to send me the rental checks. For the last few months they send me different checks throughout the month for different amounts. I was under the impression that the rent would be paid on time at the beginning of the month. The rent has never been paid on time. This is turning out to be a major mistake in renting to a tenant who has the FHEPS voucher. They are in violation of the lease and I can’t even charge a late fee. I don’t recommend any landlord to rent to a FHEPS tenant.

My NYC FHEPS tenant turned out to be a drug addict!

I met a woman who was in shelter with her young child. She seemed very sincere and trusting. She had the NYC FHEPS voucher, and I decided to rent to her accepting the NYC FHEPS voucher. In less than a month of living in my rental property she trashed the apartment. She eventually abandon the apartment and there was drug paraphernalia left all over the apartment. As a landlord I do not recommend any landlord accepting a tenant who has the NYC FHEPS voucher. I did some research and found out they are approved for this voucher because of domestic violence, or they were previously evicted, or they are not making enough income to pay the actual rent. If you want headaches then accept a tenant who has the NYC FHEPS voucher.