Landlord Information

Landlord Inspection Handbook (Adobe pdf)
Housing Choice Voucher Program Owner/Landlord Guide (Adobe pdf)
Violence Against Women Act 2013 (VAWA) (Adobe pdf)
$1,500 Bonus - Emergency Housing Vouchers (Adobe pdf)

Rentals

Landlords: The Housing Authority has partnered with AffordableHousing.com, which provides an enhanced program to list rental properties online. Listings are available to potential Housing Choice Voucher tenants seeking apartment units, duplexes, single-family homes or townhomes in the private market. If you have any questions regarding registering, creating, or viewing property listings, please call the AffordableHousing toll free help line at 1-866-466-7328. It is recommended that landlords add photos to their listing for better advertising and faster lease up.

AffordableHousing landlord flyer (Adobe pdf)
AffordableHousing landlord form to fill out and fax (Adobe pdf)

Landlord Workshop Dates

Workshops will be held once each quarter. Please refer to the schedule below. For more information, please contact Heather Bailey at hmb@csha.us

Five Easy Steps to Becoming a Section 8 Landlord

As a participating owner in the Section 8 Voucher Program, you must maintain the rental unit in compliance with local housing codes as well as Federal Housing Quality Standard (HQS) guidelines. It is the owner’s responsibility to screen and select a tenant, execute the lease, sign the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract with the Colorado Springs Housing Authority, collect a security deposit and collect the family’s portion of the rent.

Owner or Landlord lists a rental unit
Tenant chooses unit
Owner or Landlord and Tenant complete RTA packet, return to CSHA with proposed lease
CHSA approves request and schedules inspection of unit
Housing Assistance contracts (HAP), lease signed

Information

The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program is designed to help families with low to moderate income rent houses that are decent, safe, and sanitary. The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program provides for direct monthly payments to the property owner on behalf of the qualified family. The Section 8 Housing Choice Program subsidy covers the difference between 30% of the tenant's adjusted gross income and the contract rent, up to the payment standard.

The established payment standards include utilities. If the rent, plus utilities, exceeds the established payment standard per bedroom size, the family will be responsible for the additional cost, BUT they cannot spend more than 40% of their adjusted gross monthly income on housing.

Landlord Responsibilities

It is the landlords responsibility to screen prospective tenants.

Landlords must use their own lease
Inform prospective tenants of the utility responsibilities that they may be required to pay under the lease
Collect the tenant's portion of the rent (the Housing Authority portion will be made by direct deposit) and utility payments (if applicable) on time or take appropriate action with regard to the tenant. The landlord must notify the Housing Authority if the tenant falls behind in their portion of the rent
The landlord will be required to sign a statement of responsibility included in the landlord move-in packet.

Request for Lease Approval

Once the landlord has decided to rent the prospective unit to a Housing Authority client, the landlord must complete a Request for Tenancy Approval Form and documents in the landlord move-in packet. After this is completed, the tenant will submit the completed packet to the Housing Specialist at the Housing Authority for review. The Housing Specialist will contact the prospective landlord, confirm the information on the Request for Tenancy Approval and set a date and time for move-in inspection.

Miscellaneous

The lease is between the landlord and the tenant. The Housing Authority does not enter into the lease. The landlord does sign a Housing Assistance Payment Contract with the Housing Authority.
The landlord can call the Housing Manager to request an interim inspection at any time, if you feel that the tenant is not maintaining the unit in a decent, safe, sanitary condition.

Inspections

Move-In Inspection

The Housing Authority will inspect the unit to make sure it is safe, decent, and sanitary. Examples:

Floors: All floor covering must be clean and in good repair.
Walls: All wall must be clean and in good repair.
Windows: All windows must have locks, screens, and no broken or cracked glass.
Living Room: An operable window with a lock, two electrical outlets, or one outlet and a permanent light fixture.
Kitchen: Hot and cold running water, stove, and refrigerator (if provided), in operating condition, adequate food preparation and storage area.
Bathroom: Operable window, two electrical outlets, or one outlet and a permanent light fixture.
Bedrooms: Operable window no more than 48 inches from the floor, two electrical outlets, or one outlet and a permanent light fixture, a closet, and a door for the room.
Exterior: Sound foundation, stairs, porches, and roofs. Landscape free of trash and debris. No peeling or cracking paint, no infestation.
Heating/plumbing: Proper ventilation for heating and cooling, pressure relief valve on hot water heater, adequate plumbing and sewer connections, thermostat.
The inspector will make notations of wear and tear. He will also note how old the floor coverings are and when the last time the unit was painted.

Inspection Checklist

The Housing Authority will inspect the following eight areas for HQS compliance:

Living Room
Kitchen
Other Rooms used for living
Secondary Rooms
Building Exterior
Heating and Plumbing
General Health and Safety
Garage and Outbuildings

The Housing Inspector must verify the following Conditions:

There must be properly operating carbon monoxide detectors on every level
All major utilities (electricity, gas, and water) must be turned on.
The cooking stove and oven must be in working condition with burner control knobs.
The refrigerator must be in working condition.
The heating unit must be properly installed, in good working order and vented.
You must have hot and cold running water in the kitchen and bathroom(s).
There must be a shower or bathtub that is in working condition.
There must be a flush toilet that works and does not leak.
The bathroom(s) must have a window or a working ventilation fan.
There must be no plumbing leaks or plugged drains.
All accessible outside doors and windows must have working locks.
No double-keyed, deadbolt locks will be allowed.
The roof must not leak.
All electrical outlets must have cover plates in good condition with no cracks.
There must be no missing, broken or badly cracked windows/window panes.
The hot water tank must have a pressure relief valve and a downward discharge pipe.
There can be no tears, holes, or loose seams in carpeting or linoleum.
Stairs and railing, inside and out, must be secure.
There can be no mice, rat, or insect infestation.
There must be a properly operating smoke detector on every level of the unit.
No cracking, chipping, scaling or loose paint anywhere, inside or outside the unit.
No excess debris in or around the unit, such as an accumulation of boxes, paper, trash, wood, tires, machine or auto parts, batteries, paint cans or old appliances. Derelict vehicles must be removed from the premises.

Providing Affordable Housing in the Pikes Peak Region