State Specific Question About: ILLINOIS (IL)

Each City travels down their own criminal Road deciding if they Demand a landlord to accept qualified Section 8 applicants. Recently in Los Angeles, the City/Section 8 found I kept a 2 bedroom with a private back yard vacant. So the City Housing Authority showed up with an applicant and said this was my new tenant.

What does IL law say about it?

There is a link in the upper, left area of this page.

Call the S8 housing authority and ask what rent they pay for the number of BR you have.

Then set your rent higher. They will not let you participate .

Does Illinois have a law where the landlord can not consider the source of income?

If it does you have to accept section applicants. Now does that mean your place will pass a section 8 quality inspection? What happens if the most obvious light switch cover is missing and you flat out refuse to correct it or have the perspective resident correct this 3 minute issue? Your place will not qualify for the program.

So there are ways not to accept S8, even if you have too by using the system against itself. Not all section 8 offices are created equal though, so before you make your decision, check in with your office.

Theoretically, the program is voluntary, but some states/municipalities have passed laws making "income source discrimination" illegal, and that supposedly includes Section 8.

Now, if I had nothing but time on my hands and money to give to an attorney by the bucket load, I could probably fight the Govt in court and show how Sec 8 isn't really income (no taxes on it), isn't garnisheable in the event damages are done (most income is garnisheable in most states), and make all sorts of a legal fuss. But the question is, "Isn't there an easier, cheaper way to do this?"

The answer is unequivocally YES!

Sec 8 is administered by the Govt bureaucracy, which is slow, inefficient, and often times inept. First, the tenant has to qualify on all my other criteria, which few of them do. For those few who might, the Sec 8 office need weeks to inspect my unit to see if it passes. During that 3 - 4 week period, I can easily find a market rate tenant who doesn't require section 8, so I rent to that person instead.

Use their own poor customer service model against them. Perfectly legal. I never say, "We don't participate in Section 8". I say, "If the property and applicant qualify, yes we accept it."

But they never do work fast enough to get my property qualified, and there is no law saying I must wait for them to get the job done. First to qualify and have the money ready to go gets the unit.

I am fortunate in that I do not have to accept S8. I used to do it but the office here is so bad I couldn't take it any more.

If you have the option and are new to the biz my suggestion would be to hold off on partnering with S8. As mentioned even the good offices are slow. I have had a couple S8 tenants that were actually in need of the service but the majority were just deadbeats looking for handouts. Then they become entitled. Then you realize that they aren't garnishable. Then maybe you finally realize that you are getting paid with your own money, or at least a small portion of it.