I want to be as clear as possible, I interviewed a pre-approved applicant for an apartment. She was a 28-year-old woman, accompanied by a senior co-worker. Everything checked out, and she decided to take the apartment. She used Zelle to send the first month’s rent. During our conversation, she mentioned having a $1200 voucher to help pay the rent, which was $1175. Although I should have delved deeper into this, she assured me she could afford the rent and paid the necessary deposits to start on August 1.

On the day of the lease signing, she brought her mother, who said she would be handling the rent payments. The mother clarified that she would manage the bills because the applicant had a qualifying job, but she was quite intrusive throughout the process. Meanwhile, the applicant was on the phone, pointing out a few defects, like only having one handrail on the stairway. When I asked who she was talking to, she said it was the housing authority conducting a video inspection. This was unusual, as I typically receive notice of inspections much earlier, and lease signings involving housing are usually coordinated directly with them.

Feeling uncomfortable with the situation, I decided to return all her money. Her application did not mention housing assistance. When she first mentioned the voucher, I explained that I would not accept mailed checks and that any payments from the housing authority should be directly deposited to her. She agreed, stating they would direct deposit the funds to her.

Given the unexpected involvement of her mother, the tenant, and the housing authority, I felt the relationship was becoming too complicated. Should I have kept my cool, or was I right to return her money? The situation felt increasingly crowded and uncomfortable.

My inexperience, but gut feeling, says that, yes, you should have refused to sign a lease with her, as I believe you were being snookered. The one thing you may have done differently would have been to wait to be sure her funds were good before giving a return. I think she purposely held out on telling you all this and her funds would be questionable. Also sounds like she is robbing the system.

You may want to go back and take a closer look at the check stubs and letter and see if they might be fake.

At one point I calmed down and said ok how about we sign the lease and you can get housing in here later to do their inspection. I just did not need that to be happening, while I am trying to do my lease signing, the mother was a talker, so that didn't help, but we both decided to part ways. I like your point that the tenant hijacking my lease signing with her own program. As far as I know her documentation was good. But she should have mentioned the 1200 voucher before she saw the apt since none of that was mentioned in her application.

In my neck of the woods, when you file an eviction the first thing they ask is whether the property has an FHA loan or if anyone there receives public assistance.

I think that you made a wise decision to pass on this one. If she was this demanding at the "honeymoon" stage I would predict that things would only go downhill from here. As we both know you are much better off having an empty unit than trying to remove an unwanted tenant through the courts especially in MA.

At times like this always refer back to Aldo's two rules of successful Landlording.

#1 The Landlord is in charge.

#2 The tenant is not in charge.

Congrats on nipping that problem in the bud.

"......the mother was a talker,....."

Yep, 100% you did the right thing.

In the future to avoid this, be sure to fully qualify the income prior to any commitment to lease signing. The voucher should have been a non-issue. If she can't qualify based on her income (which was disability and paystubs), then she doesn't qualify.

Also, keep in mind that disability income isn't garnisheable. If she stops paying, you're out of luck except if there's W-2 income that is sufficient. Judges in my state cap the garnishment at 25% of disposable income... meaning AFTER other expenses. So the new landlord gets his rent while I sit on a worthless judgment.

Vouchers likewise allow you no way to recoup unpaid rent, fees, and damages. I realize you live in MA where I think supposedly you can't "discriminate" (aka make a wise business decision) on source of income, but a voucher is not income. It's a taxpayer funded subsidy. Find ways around that. There are many 100% legal ways to DQ these folks usually.

Make sure your application states that any falsehood or misinformation on the application is grounds to reject the application and is also grounds for an eviction.

Let's face it folks, ever since CoVId ™ the GOOD tenants are staying put and they appreciate their current situation, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Usually moving closer to their job/new job (after steady employment history) is the ONLY reason they move

"The BAD tenants are nomadic and are always finding fault, looking for nice place to destroy..."

I am assuming her disability had more to do with her ability to manage the numerous details of a modern complex life. I give her credit for trying. I think mostly what the issue was she was trying to strike out of her own and did not navigate her way 100% correctly. She probably stills needs an advocate to walk her through this process. Her mother explained to me

bet,

Good for you! Takes guts to stay strong to protect your business!

I'll bet (see that pun there:) there is more to the story than what they told you. Incomplete info is a form of lying.

Sec8 housing voucher payments go to the LANDLORD, never to the resident.

My policy: I don't sign the lease until we need it for court.

This paid off a few times when our screener found something at the last minute, WHILE I was at the lease signing. (Once he found their LL filed eviction THAT DAY so it did not show 2 days earlier during screening)

I quickly changed the locks again so the key I gave them would not work, and texted them that the office did not approve their lease. All funds will be returned. Best of luck in your house hunting.

Caution when returning funds: NEVER return from their personal check. Only return VERIFIED funds such as direct deposit. Even Money Orders can be faked.

Empty is better than wrong.

I am potentially accepting a money order today from out of staters.