How Do I Become an HCV Landlord?

1. Know an owner’s rights and responsibilities under this federally regulated program before you become an HCV Landlord.
   1. CMHA offers a two-hour Landlord Orientation on Tuesday mornings at 10 AM.  To register or confirm dates and times, click on the Events tab.  Clicking on the event in the calendar will take you to a registration drop-down menu.
   2. If you live out of state and are unable to attend in person, please contact the Landlord Outreach Coordinator at
2. The rental unit should at least meet minimum basic Housing Quality Standards (HQS) and be ready for occupancy.
3. Among other advertisements, you can list your unit for availability free of charge at www.GoSection8.com.
4. Screen potential assisted residents as you would a potential unassisted resident.
5. Use CMHA’s Affordability Calculator to confirm that the resident can afford your asking rent. Each resident is expected to pay between 30% and 40% of their gross income toward their rent and utilities, so while one family may not be able to afford the unit, a different family might.
6. Fill in the Request for Tenancy Approval (RTA) form completely.
   1. The resident and property owner must sign the RTA.
   2. Direct Deposit is mandatory for all property owners for Housing Assistance Payments (HAP).  The direct deposit form must be completed and returned to CMHA before any payments will be issued. The form can be directly submitted to CMHA’s Finance Department (thus maintaining the confidentiality of your banking information).  Contact information is listed on the form.
   3. CMHA is required to issue owners a 1099 at tax time.  A properly filled out W-9 is required for each tax entity under which you do business with CMHA.  A completed W-9 form may be sent directly to our Finance Department, but when filling out the RTA, be sure that:
      1. the owner name exactly matches the entity name on the W-9 form, and
      2. write on the W-9 form included with the RTA that your tax number is on file with Finance.
7. CMHA will check information on each property location to ensure the following:
   1. There are no outstanding City of Cincinnati building code violations,
   2. There are no outstanding property taxes,
   3. The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) payee information matches the owner as listed on the Hamilton County website, and
   4. That the resident can “afford” the unit based upon HUD’s required formula,
   5. If the family is responsible for paying for water, the owner's water utility account must be current.
8. If an RTA fails any of the checks in item 7, both the owner and resident will be notified in writing.  Otherwise, an Inspector will contact the owner within 15 days of the date the RTA was submitted to schedule an inspection. If the family is responsible for paying the water bill, the owner must submit proof with the RTA that the bill is current or the RTA will be canceled.
9. Once the unit passes the inspection, CMHA performs a rent reasonableness assessment to ensure that the rent the owner is requesting is “reasonable” for the proposed unit.  If the assessment does not reflect the rent as “reasonable”, the owner will be asked to reduce the requested rent to a “reasonable” amount.  The owner is not obligated to accept the adjusted rental amount.
10. Once the rent amount is accepted, the owner/family will inform CMHA of the anticipated “move-in-date” and execute a Residential Lease Agreement.
11. CMHA will send the owner a HAP Contract and Tenancy Addendum to be signed by the owner and family.  Once CMHA receives a copy of the Residential Lease Agreement, the HAP Contract and Tenancy Addendum, payments will be released to the owner on CMHA’s next regularly scheduled check run.

NOTE: The resident-paid utilities and the owner-paid utilities as submitted on the RTA must exactly match the information listed in the owner’s Residential Lease Agreement.  Any discrepancies on your lease will delay the HAP payment.