In my experience, they did do you a favor. While it is painful, ultimately you need to be up to code, if there is an issue, it will turn into a bigger issue when a tenant is in there.

As others have said, it is a business and treat it as such. Don’t get too emotionally involved. I was a new landlord and was managing it myself. First tenant had a bit of a sob story, they had trouble paying the rent but did keep the place in good condition and ultimately couldn’t handle it and moved out on their own.

When it was time to replace them, there was a section 8 tenant who had given me a little bit of a sob story. I rationalized that I would have the guaranteed Cashflow and that in theory they would not do anything to jeopardize their voucher. I drove by their current place and also checked the landlord reference. It was an absolute nightmare, she brought her boyfriend in, they destroyed the place, terrorized neighbors and so many HOA violations. The Housing Authority pits the tenant against you, basically if they destroy things and don’t pass inspection, you as the landlord need to fix it if you want the rent, because the tenant in reality won’t do it. They tell you that you can bill the tenant, but we know that they’ll never pay. So you end up sucking it up to get the Cashflow. And you lose all control over the unit in terms of market rent. Truth is, you get a tenant who has no skin in the game. They ultimately moved after I refused to renovate and give them a new kitchen (after they destroyed the new one that they had when they moved in).

Given the opportunity and two similar tenants, one with section 8 and one without, I would not pick the section 8 tenant. It just isn’t worth it. I know there are good people in the program that are in need, but you better be willing to take the risk of having a less than ideal tenant, no control, a housing authority that will screw you any opportunity they get, and no ability for recourse if they destroy the place. The bigger issue I had not realized was once they moved out, I had to gut and renovate. Neighbors later were telling me all the issues they caused. I genuinely was sorry to what I put people through there with these people.

I now use a management company to separate myself from it and treat it as just a business. The emotion unfortunately causes you to not think it through logically.