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Request Tenancy Approval

Landlords that wish to indicate their willingness to lease a unit to an eligible tenants or to help the HCV family find a unit must notify the local field agency. The field agency maintains a listing of such owners.

Landlords are encouraged to register their units through the statewide web based housing directory (MTHousingSearch.com)

When a family approaches an owner to apply for tenancy, the owner is responsible for screening the family and deciding whether to lease to the family, just as the owner would with any potential tenant. MDOC has no liability or responsibility to the owner or other persons for the family’s behavior or suitability for tenancy.

SUITABILITY AND SCREENING OF TENANT
Housing Choice Voucher Program. 24 CFR 982.307. Listing a family (tenant) on the MDOC wait list, or selecting a family for participation in the Section 8 Program, is not a representation by MDOC to the owner about the family’s expected behavior, or the family’s suitability for tenancy. At or before approval of a tenancy, the local field agent must inform the owner such screening of tenants is their responsibility. Owners are encouraged to screen families on the basis of their tenancy histories.

An owner may consider a family’s background with respect to such factors as:

1.) Payment of rent and utility bills;
2.) Caring for a unit and premise;
3.) Respecting the rights of others to the peaceful enjoyment of their housing;
4.) Drug related criminal activity or other criminal activity that is a threat to the life, safety or property of others; and
5.) Compliance with other essential conditions of tenancy.

The local field agent must give the owner when requested:

1.) The family’s current and prior address (as shown on MDOC records); and
2.) The name and address (if known to the local field agent) to the owner at the family’s current and prior address.

MDOC RECOMMENDS THAT PROSPECTIVE OWNERS REQUEST REFERENCES FROM ALL PROSPECTIVE TENANTS, WHETHER THEY ARE SECTION 8 OR NOT.

The local field agency is responsible for ensuring that every individual and family admitted to the HCV program meets all program eligibility requirements. This includes any individual approved to join the family after the family has been admitted to the program. The family must provide any information needed by the field agency to confirm eligibility and determine the level of the family’s assistance.

If the owner is willing, the family and the owner must jointly complete a Request for Tenancy Approval (RTA, Form HUD 52517), which constitutes the family's request for assistance in the specified unit, and which documents the owner's willingness to lease to the family and to follow the program’s requirements.

After the RTA is submitted to the local field agency, this document is the first step in the process of obtaining approval for the family, if qualified, to receive the financial assistance it will need in order to occupy the unit.

HUD regulations stipulate that an assisted tenancy can be approved only under certain conditions. The owner must be qualified to participate in the program [24 CFR 982.306].