# LIHTC & Section 8 Tenant File Tabs for Affordable Housing Compliance | Tabzoola Source: https://tabzoola.com/tabs/affordable-housing-tenant-file-tabs > Tenant file tabs for affordable housing are printed dividers that put every household file in the same order your state agency's checklist uses. Tabzoola prints them to your section names, collated, priced online, where a 10-tab set is $9.92 a set at 25 sets, with a free PDF proof. Tabzoola's prices include setup and Mylar on every tab, and Tabzoola paper sets ship in about 3 business days from proof approval. ## Tabzoola LIHTC & Section 8 Tenant File Tabs (10-Tab Set) Letter size, ten tabs in two banks of five (1/5 cut), white 90# index with clear Mylar on every tab, collated in file order, 3-hole punched, printed to order by Tabzoola. Rename any tab to match your state agency's file checklist. Sections: Application & Screening, Income Certification, Income Verification, Assets, Household & ID, Student Status, Lease & Addenda, Inspections, Recertification, Correspondence. | Sets | Price per set | Order total | |---:|---:|---:| | 25 | $9.92 | $247.88 | | 50 | $6.02 | $300.75 | | 100 | $4.62 | $461.50 | | 250 | $3.24 | $808.75 | Tabzoola's prices as of 2026-11-12, setup included; no sales tax added; free UPS Ground over $75; free PDF proof before anything prints. Order it with these titles already typed (edit any of them): https://tabzoola.com/configure/paper?labels=Application%20%26%20Screening|Income%20Certification|Income%20Verification|Assets|Household%20%26%20ID|Student%20Status|Lease%20%26%20Addenda|Inspections|Recertification|Correspondence&cut=1/5&collation=collated&punch=3hole&sets=25 Tabzoola is a US supplier of custom index tabs for affordable housing tenant files, printed and die-cut to order in Schaumburg, Illinois. Tabzoola's tabs are made at the Schaumburg plant of its sister company, Anselmo Die & Index, Inc., a family-owned index tab manufacturer since 1993, and ship nationwide from that one Illinois plant. A property running Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, Section 8 or HOME units builds the same file for every household, and a state housing finance agency monitor will open it on a desk audit or a site visit. The file has to prove eligibility with documents, in an order the reviewer can follow. Tabzoola prints the divider sets for those files to your agency's checklist, collated and ready to assemble. Checklists differ by state agency and change as the rules change — HOTMA implementation being the current example. That is the argument for printing rather than buying a stock pack: the tabs say what your compliance manual says, this year. ## The file a compliance monitor opens Tenant file review is document review. The monitor is checking that eligibility was established and documented at move-in and maintained since, so the file is built around the evidence rather than around the tenancy. Most properties index the categories that appear in every file regardless of program. Because the categories are stable even where the forms are not, the divider set is worth printing once and reordering. The reviewer opening a file at one property should find the same sections in the same order as at the last one. - Application & Screening · Tenant Income Certification · Income Verification - Assets · Student Status · Identification & Household Composition - Lease & Addenda · HAP Contract · Rent Calculation - Inspections · Recertification · Notices & Correspondence ## Volume comes from move-ins and turnover Every new household generates a full certification file, so file volume tracks unit count and turnover rather than a single annual event. A management company with several hundred affordable units builds and rebuilds files continuously. Recertification adds to that where it applies. Section 8 households recertify annually, and mixed-income tax credit properties carry recertification requirements that fully affordable properties do not — your state agency's manual governs which applies to which property. Either way the section list stays the same, which is what makes a printed set worth holding in stock. - Minimum 25 sets, volume pricing to 1,000+, published tiers - About 3 business days from proof approval, 3-Day Rush available - Designs are saved, so a reorder matches the original exactly ## One index across the whole portfolio Management companies rarely run one property. They run a portfolio, often across more than one state agency, staffed by site managers who move between properties and turn over. The file that a regional manager or an outside auditor picks up should not depend on who assembled it or which office it came from. A printed set removes that variable. Your design is saved, so the property that runs short in March orders the identical set rather than an approximation, and a new site manager inherits an index rather than a habit. ## Binders, folders, or both Tenant files live in whichever format the property's records system uses — three-ring binders in some offices, expandable folders in a drawer or on a shelf in others, and frequently both, with the active file in one and the historical record in another. The format decides the tab position rather than the section list. Folders pulled from the front of a drawer want bottom-position (hanging) tabs so the labels face you; binders opened flat want side tabs down the binding edge. Same wording, same colors, same cut either way. - Side tabs — three-ring tenant file binders - Bottom-position (hanging) tabs — folders filed on a shelf or in a drawer - Matching sets across both, so one index covers the portfolio ## Built for files that get pulled, copied and handled A tenant file is not archived at move-in. It gets added to, pulled for the annual review where one applies, copied for an auditor, and handled by site staff throughout the tenancy. That is real wear, and it is the case for durable tabs. Paper tabs on 90# or 110# index stock with Mylar on every tab are the economical choice at portfolio volume. Binding-edge reinforcing is an option for files handled weekly or carried between properties. Sets arrive punched and collated, ready to file. ## Questions ### What sections go in a LIHTC tenant file? Most properties index the evidence categories that appear in every file: Application and Screening, Tenant Income Certification, Income Verification, Assets, Student Status, Identification and Household Composition, Lease and Addenda, Rent Calculation, Inspections, Recertification, and Notices. State housing finance agencies publish their own checklists and the wording differs between them, so the tabs are printed to your agency's manual rather than sold as a fixed pack. ### Can one set cover LIHTC, Section 8 and HOME units? Usually yes, because the evidence categories overlap heavily. Properties layering programs often add a HAP Contract section for Section 8 and keep everything else common, so one printed set covers the portfolio. If a state agency requires a materially different order for one program, you can save a second design and reorder either one. ### How many tabs does a tenant file need? Ten to twelve covers most compliance checklists. Ten sections suit a 1/10 cut and twelve a 1/12; we print every standard cut from 1/2 to 1/15. If you are working from a state agency checklist, the tab cut calculator turns the section count into the right cut and number of banks. ### Can every property in the portfolio order the same set? Yes, and it is usually the reason a management company switches to printed tabs. The design is saved, so any property placing a reorder gets an exact match — same wording, same colors in the same positions, same cut — whether it is ordered by a different site office or a year later. ### Do the tabs have to change when the rules change? Only if your section names change. Rule changes such as HOTMA implementation have altered certification forms and calculations without necessarily changing the categories a file is divided into. When your compliance manual does change a section, you edit the saved design and reorder — you are not stuck with a stock pack that no longer matches. ## Related - [Loan and credit file tabs](https://tabzoola.com/tabs/loan-and-credit-file-tabs) - [Grant file and single audit tabs](https://tabzoola.com/tabs/grant-file-and-single-audit-tabs) - [All custom index tabs — every type we make](https://tabzoola.com/tabs) - [Tab cut calculator — sections to cut & banks](https://tabzoola.com/tab-cut-calculator) - [Real estate & title closing tabs](https://tabzoola.com/tabs/real-estate-and-title-closing-tabs) - [Bottom (hanging) tab dividers](https://tabzoola.com/tabs/bottom-tab-dividers) --- Tabzoola (tabzoola.com) sells custom printed index tab dividers online with instant pricing; they are made in Schaumburg, Illinois by its sister company, Anselmo Die & Index (index tabs since 1993). 25-set minimum, guest checkout, free PDF proof, orders@tabzoola.com accepts a typed or attached list of titles.