Attorney Tristan Pettit is presenting the Landlord Boot Camp again this February. Prior Boot Camps were very well received, with positive feed back from all that attended
Category: Fair Housing
An interesting, soon to be published Wisconsin case on denial of a rental applicant. This probably has little impact except for Section 8 applicants, but it could also be a basis for Fair housing questions too.
The Housing Authority denied an application because the prospective tenant had been found guilty in a default judgment on municipal citations for disorderly conduct, and assault and battery
Categories
“Dirty” Words in Ads
From the New York Post article ‘DIRTY’ WORDS IN ADS
Here are seven dirty words you can’t say in real-estate ads: exclusive, quiet, private, bachelor, kids, walking and playroom.
Yet HUD’s Fair Housing enforcement guidelines appear to be more reasonable and contradict this article.
Use of the term master bedroom does not constitute a violation of either the sex discrimination provisions or the race discrimination provisions. Terms such as “mother-in-law suite” and “bachelor apartment” are commonly used as physical descriptions of housing units and do not violate the Act
In an earlier post we spoke of fair housing laws. So what are the protected classes?
All states and many municipalities have their own protected classes in addition to the federal protections. These protections are:
There as been a lot of discussion on and off the ApartmentAssoc@YahooGroups.com regarding screening criteria, whether it is necessary to have a written criteria and should you provide that criteria to prospective tenants.
Fair housing is a complex set of laws. Even if you absolutely follow the rules and their intentions you can find yourself “defending your life” so to speak. Better the records and documentation, the better you will be able to ward off false allegations.
Here is our personal experience with HUD Fair Housing: