# Experiences as Landlords? Any Big Fat Hairy Legal Issues I need to worry about? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 21, 2008, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-as-landlords-any-big-fat-hairy-legal-issues-i-need-to-worry-about/460803 "2008-08-21T14:20:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-as-landlords-any-big-fat-hairy-legal-issues-i-need-to-worry-about/460803/41 "2008-08-22T23:27:26Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] Really? I see a lot of ads that say “No Section 8”. I know newspapers won’t publish ads that are considered discriminatory or illegal (“Whites only”, Christian tenant wanted", “No children” etc), but … really, I can’t turn someone down if they’ve got a Section 8 subsidy? The reason I’m asking is because I may be leaving Cleveland soon, but I can’t sell my house - thus, gotta’ rent it out. (I’m either going to hire a property management firm, or pay my willing next door neighbors to manage the property.) It’s an inner ring suburb not far removed from a poor inner city neighborhood where practically every renter is Section 8 or gets some kind of subsidy. [/QUOTE] It depends on the jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions allow landlords to refuse to accept housing voucher recipients as tenants. Others do not. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9249908#post9249908](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9249908#post9249908) As for **Annie-Xmas** ’s advice, try a thought experiment: substitue black for Section 8 voucher recipient. Could I refuse a lease to a black applicant and avoid liability with a pretext? The answer is no. I’m not going to bother with a cite. In both cases I might get away with it unless somebody did a careful study of my practices, but that doesn’t mean it is legal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-as-landlords-any-big-fat-hairy-legal-issues-i-need-to-worry-about/460803.md?page=2)