CHAPTER 10 Fair Housing Act
Don’t think for a second that you can get away with ignoring the Fair Housing Act and its laws. It’s imperative for all rental property owners to follow these laws. This chapter will discuss why, and how. First, a little history. The U.S. Fair Housing Act was put in place in 1968—50 years ago, as of the publication of this book—in order to protect citizens from housing discrimination, unfair renting practices, and poor housing conditions. People with low incomes, people of color, and immigrants were especially at risk of discrimination. Fair Housing Act laws are still there and in effect to protect against housing-related discrimination based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex/gender, disability, and familial status. This act has helped millions of people find homes, and protects people against discrimination, but it can leave rental property owners vulnerable and liable and open to complaints, and even lawsuits. Even if you’re not ultimately found at fault in a Fair Housing Act complaint, you can still spend thousands and thousands of dollars protecting and defending yourself from the complaint in the first place; even worse, a Fair Housing Act complaint can put your reputation on the line and hurt your business, regardless of the outcome. “Bad apple” and red-flagged tenants can use Fair Housing complaints in order to get an unfair advantage over you. Maybe they just want to cause trouble, maybe they want something for free, maybe they hope to come into a bunch of money through a 78
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