The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is the federal government's primary program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market.

HCVs are administered locally by Cecil County’s Division of Housing and Community Development/Cecil County Housing Agency. Since housing assistance is provided on behalf of the HCV tenant, participants are able to find their own housing, including single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments.

The role of the landlord in the HCV program is to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing to a tenant at a reasonable rent. The dwelling unit must pass the program’s Housing Quality Standards (HQS) and be maintained up to those standards as long as the owner receives housing assistance payments.

BECOMING AN HCV LANDLORD

If you own rental property in Cecil County and are interested in working with our Housing Choice Voucher program to rent your property, we encourage you to do the following:

1. Review HUD’s “Interested in Becoming a Housing Choice Voucher Landlord?” and “Myth-Busting and Benefits Fact Sheet” for an overview of the voucher program.
2. Make sure your property meets minimum performance requirement standards including smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
3. Review the Maryland Department of the Environment Lead Certification Requirements.
4. Go to affordablehousing.com to list your property for free, and call our office to notify us of the vacancy.  We are often able to match tenants and landlords very quickly. 410-996-5245

What to expect…

• A voucher holder will contact you about your listing.
• If a voucher holder is interested in your property, they will present you with a Request for Lease Approval form, which must be completed and returned to the Housing office.
• You may charge your area’s fair market rent for the property. The Housing office will confirm that it is not higher than other units in the area with similar amenities. The office will negotiate the rent if necessary for affordability purposes.
• We will then contact you to arrange for an HCV inspection. Note that we will not inspect any property prior to receiving a Request for Lease Approval form from the prospective tenant. If you have questions about the inspection requirements, please contact our office at 410-996-5245, but in general we are going to ensure compliance with all State and County codes, as well as general health and safety concerns, and any household appliance present must be functional. If your unit does not pass, you will have the opportunity to correct the deficiencies.
• The Housing office will finalize the details of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract with you.
• You will enter into a lease agreement with the tenant.
• You will begin to receive monthly HAPs from Cecil County – the remainder of the rent payment will be received from the tenant.

CURRENT HCV LANDLORDS

Thank you! We appreciate your willingness to partner with Cecil County to serve our community.

If you have vacant units you need to rent, please list them for free on affordablehousing.com so that you can reach our voucher holders. This service is more useful, convenient, efficient, and reliable than contacting our office to list your vacant units. However, we are happy to answer any specific questions you may have about renting your unit. Call 410-996-5245.

If you have received a Rent Reasonableness Survey in the mail from our agency, please complete the form and return by mail or fax. Periodically, our office conducts random surveys of rental units in the area to ensure competitive rents for our owners and tenants. The information you provide in these surveys is not distributed or shared for any other purpose. We thank you for your cooperation in these surveys.

If you currently are involved in a dispute with your tenant or are having problems, please consult the Maryland Attorney General's Landlords and Tenants publication regarding your rights as the property owner.