Evictions in Section 8 Housing

TMHA often gets questions from owners as to whether a Section 8 tenant can be evicted. The answer is yes; owners never lose their right to evict a tenant for lease violations, including failure of the tenant family to pay their portion of the rent. Evictions are subject to provisions of ORC Tenant-Landlord Law, and follow the same procedure for a Section 8 tenant as for an unassisted tenant.

TMHA does not offer an opinion as to the merit of an eviction action. That is the role of the court. As the party “in the middle,” TMHA does advocate for both sides throughout the action, and will attempt to be of assistance in offering pertinent information, or advising either party of their rights as specified in ORC. TMHA has occasionally testified in an eviction action, if
subpoena’ed.

The owner is required to give TMHA a copy of the “Notice to Leave the Premises” form that is the first step in the eviction. That gives TMHA a heads-up to the impending action in the file.

TMHA will continue to enforce the HAP Contract, and make a HAP payment throughout the eviction. As owner, you may wish to have us hold the HAP payment during the eviction because some judges will call the HAP payment “rent,” and nullify an eviction action because the owner accepted it after the eviction was filed. In this case we will restore the HAP when the action is completed.

If the Section 8 tenant is successfully evicted, they are automatically terminated from the Section 8 program for two years. If not evicted, the lease and contract go on until ended for some other reason.