How to Protect Yourself From a Fair Housing Violation Accusation
As a landlord, choosing tenants carefully is an essential part of protecting your rental homes. You are looking for people who are stable, responsible, and ideally plan to stay for a few years. However, fair housing laws require that you determine these traits without asking a number of personal questions ranging from national origins to family status. It is illegal to make decisions based on any protected status defined by the fair housing act, so landlords use credit reports, work history, and rental histories instead.
But what do you do if someone has accused you of a fair housing violation, and how can you protect yourself from fair housing accusations in the future? We can help you navigate this delicate situation to ensure your rental business is always clearly above-board.
Define Fair Housing Violation
The Fair Housing Act requires that landlords never make decisions - especially discriminatory decisions - based on protected information about an applicant or tenant. Knowing exactly what qualifies as a fair housing violation can help protect you from false and spurious accusations.
Protected details include:
- Race
- Skin color
- National origin
- Religion
- Sex, gender, or sexual orientation
- Familial status or structure
- Disability
Types of discriminatory practices that are prohibited include the following actions based on a protected status:
- Whether to rent to someone based on protected information
- Setting different lease terms
- Exacting harsher fees and penalties
- Raising the rent more than usual
- Providing a lower quality of service or denying service
- Use different qualification criteria
- Evict a tenant or guest
- Harass or act hostile toward a person
- Assign specific housing
You are also not permitted to reference protected status details when advertising for rental homes.
Refuting a Fair Housing Accusation
Landlords might be accused of fair housing violations from a rejected applicant, a current tenant, or a past tenant depending on the nature of their accusation. Fortunately, a landlord that has been running their operations with documentation and record-keeping can usually refute these accusations by providing the paperwork and criteria they use to make each decision regarding rental properties, leases, and tenant management policies.
Disclose Your Tenant Screening Process
Reveal the process you use to screen applicants for each home. Most landlords have a specific routine they go through and a formula they apply to help make a safe tenant selection for each home. This likely includes running a credit check, rental history check, and income verification, then choosing the applicant with the best numerical scores. Other laws are required to ensure these checks provide fair and equal data regardless of protected statuses.
Show Equal and Consistent Lease Terms
Most landlords use the same lease for each property, and often nearly identical lease terms between multiple properties. If you have used the same lease and terms for several previous tenants, this can show that you did not treat an accusing tenant any differently. Records regarding fees and penalties can also help show that any fees exacted were under the same policies and conditions as previous tenants.
Reveal the Purpose Behind Each Decision
For less uniform decisions, reveal your decision-making process or routine procedure, such as the process you use to send maintenance teams for house repairs, how often you answer tenant emails, and so on to show that you have treated the accusing applicant or tenant the same way you have treated everyone else.
How to Avoid Fair Housing Concerns in the Future
How can you protect yourself from accusations of fair housing violations in the future? While some people are inclined to make spurious decisions, you can discourage these instances and make them easy to refute with a few simple steps.
Formalize and Document Your Screening Process
Formalize your tenant screening process and do it the exact same way every time. Use numerical scores in your decision making that cannot possibly be personal or related to protected personal details. Then create a clear documentation of your screening process for each and every applicant and turnover process.
Note: Many landlords use a screening service to ensure the process is routine and objective.
Never Ask Personal and Protected Questions, Even in Small Talk
Small talk can be risky with an applicant or tenant. Never ask personal questions related to someone's identity or even their family structure and politely decline to learn more if tenants start to tell you about themselves regarding these details. Not knowing is a good protection against accusations of discrimination.
Use the Same Lease for Every Tenant
Unify your lease terms. Many landlords use near-identical lease terms for every rental house in their portfolio. If a house requires custom terms relating to the property features (like appliances or gardens) be sure to use the same lease for each tenant of that property. Otherwise, maintain standard terms like late fee grace periods for all properties and tenants - and implement those rules the same for everyone.
Keep Records of Fees and Penalties
The biggest gray area after screening is the implementation of certain rules like fees and penalties. Keeping meticulous records of each time a penalty is enacted and why can show that you are always fair and consistent and don't apply the rules differently for different tenants.
Note: Some cases cause for unique rule management - like being particularly forgiving if you rent student housing. Document this policy clearly as well.
Document Unique Lease Negotiations
Lastly, if a tenant asks to negotiate unique lease terms, document their request, your response, and the terms you agree on. It may be reasonable for a tenant to ask for a discount on rent if they do their own yard or go half-and-half on an upgrade. Clear documentation can show that unique terms were a solid business decision and not related to tenant identity.
Formalize Your Rental Home Policies with Leaf Management
One of the best ways to protect yourself from fair housing accusations is to work with a property management team that has already formalized their routine for applicant screening and tenant policies. Leaf Management can help you take your rental home strategy to the next level in terms of efficiency and protection. Contact us today to learn more.
