The Fair Housing Act is a major U.S. federal law that prohibits certain forms of discrimination in housing. Fair Housing Act compliance applies to many activities involving the sale, rental, financing, advertising, and provision of housing-related services.
Property owners, landlords, property managers, real estate professionals, lenders, and housing providers should understand the rules that apply to their activities. Compliance is not simply about avoiding discriminatory language; it also involves consistent policies, fair treatment, appropriate recordkeeping, and awareness of situations that can create unintended discrimination.
Understand Protected Classes
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability.
These protections can apply to various housing activities, including renting, selling, advertising, and certain housing-related transactions.
State and local laws may provide additional protections beyond federal law.
Understanding both federal and applicable local requirements is important when developing housing policies.
Apply Consistent Rental Standards
Housing providers should establish clear, objective criteria for evaluating applicants.
Requirements concerning income, credit history, rental history, deposits, occupancy, and other qualifications should be applied consistently to similarly situated applicants.
Changing requirements for one applicant without a legitimate, consistently applied reason can create compliance concerns.
Written policies can help reduce inconsistent decision-making.
Review Advertising Language
Housing advertisements should not express preferences, limitations, or exclusions based on protected characteristics.
Marketing materials, online listings, social media posts, and other promotional communications should be reviewed carefully.
Even casual wording can potentially create problems if it suggests that certain people are preferred or discouraged from applying.
Advertisements should focus on legitimate property features and neutral qualification requirements.
Avoid Steering
Steering occurs when housing professionals influence a person’s housing choices based on a protected characteristic.
For example, directing or discouraging prospective renters or buyers toward particular neighborhoods because of race, national origin, religion, familial status, or another protected characteristic can create serious legal concerns.
Professionals should instead provide objective information about properties and neighborhoods and allow customers to make their own decisions.
Handle Disability-Related Requests
Disability protections include requirements concerning reasonable accommodations and, in certain circumstances, reasonable modifications.
A reasonable accommodation can involve a change to a rule, policy, practice, or service when necessary for a person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy housing.
A reasonable modification generally involves a physical change to a property when applicable legal requirements are met.
Housing providers should have a consistent process for receiving and evaluating such requests.
Understand Assistance Animals
Assistance animals can involve legal protections that differ from ordinary pet policies.
A housing provider should not automatically treat every assistance-animal request as a standard pet request.
Requests should be evaluated under applicable fair housing requirements, including rules concerning reasonable accommodations.
Because assistance-animal regulations can be fact-specific, housing providers should understand the current legal standards before denying a request.
Apply Occupancy Policies Carefully
Occupancy rules can create fair housing concerns if they are applied inconsistently or have an improper discriminatory basis.
Housing providers should distinguish legitimate occupancy and safety requirements from arbitrary restrictions.
Policies should be based on applicable law, property characteristics, and legitimate operational considerations rather than assumptions about families or children.
Train Employees and Agents
Anyone involved in housing decisions should understand fair housing requirements.
Training can include leasing staff, property managers, sales agents, maintenance personnel, customer-service employees, and others who interact with applicants or residents.
Employees should know how to handle questions about protected characteristics, accommodation requests, complaints, and application decisions.
Establish Written Procedures
Written procedures can improve consistency.
Document how applications are processed, how screening criteria are applied, how accommodation requests are handled, and how complaints are escalated.
Clear procedures can reduce the risk that individual employees will make inconsistent decisions.
Policies should also be reviewed periodically as laws and business practices change.
Maintain Appropriate Records
Good records can help demonstrate that housing decisions were based on legitimate criteria.
Maintain application records, screening information, communications, notices, accommodation requests, and relevant decision-making documentation according to applicable retention requirements.
Records should be accurate and professional.
Avoid creating informal notes that contain unnecessary opinions about applicants or residents.
Monitor Third-Party Providers
Housing providers may use outside companies for advertising, tenant screening, property management, maintenance, or other services.
Using a third party does not necessarily eliminate the housing provider’s compliance responsibilities.
Review vendor practices and ensure that screening criteria, advertising systems, and other processes do not introduce discriminatory practices.
Handle Complaints Professionally
A fair housing complaint should be taken seriously.
Document the complaint, preserve relevant records, and follow established internal procedures.
Employees should avoid retaliating against someone who raises a legitimate concern.
Depending on the circumstances, complaints may also involve government agencies or legal proceedings.
Understand Familial Status
Familial status protections generally cover households with children under applicable federal law, with certain exceptions.
Housing providers should avoid policies or advertising that improperly exclude families with children.
Restrictions involving children should not be based simply on assumptions about noise, behavior, or neighborhood preferences.
Special rules may apply to certain qualifying senior housing.
Consider National Origin and Language Issues
Housing decisions should not be based improperly on national origin.
Questions or practices involving language can also create concerns depending on the circumstances.
Housing providers should focus on legitimate qualification requirements rather than making assumptions about someone’s background or ability based on accent, nationality, or perceived ethnicity.
Review Screening Systems
Automated tenant-screening tools can introduce compliance risks if their underlying criteria or data produce discriminatory outcomes.
Housing providers should understand what screening criteria are being used and whether they are relevant to legitimate housing decisions.
Do not assume that an automated decision is automatically compliant simply because it was generated by software.
Understand Reasonable Policies vs. Discrimination
Fair housing compliance does not mean that landlords must accept every applicant.
Housing providers can generally establish legitimate requirements concerning matters such as income, credit, rental history, and property rules, subject to applicable law.
The key issue is applying legitimate standards consistently and without unlawful discrimination.
Keep Compliance Current
Fair housing requirements can involve federal, state, and local laws, and regulations or enforcement guidance can change.
Businesses should periodically review their policies and training.
For complicated situations involving disability accommodations, discrimination complaints, screening practices, or potential enforcement actions, obtaining advice from a qualified housing attorney can be appropriate.
Fair Housing Act compliance requires housing providers and professionals to understand prohibited discrimination and build consistent practices around that requirement.
The federal Fair Housing Act protects people against discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. Additional protections may apply under state and local laws.
Practical compliance starts with objective and consistently applied housing criteria. Rental requirements, screening standards, deposits, occupancy rules, and other policies should be based on legitimate considerations and applied consistently to similarly situated applicants.
Advertising also deserves careful attention. Housing advertisements should not suggest preferences or exclusions involving protected characteristics. Real estate professionals should avoid steering people toward or away from particular properties or neighborhoods based on protected characteristics.
Disability-related requests require particular care. Reasonable accommodation and reasonable modification requirements can affect rules, policies, and physical changes to housing. Assistance-animal requests may also require evaluation under fair housing requirements rather than ordinary pet policies.
Training employees, maintaining written procedures, keeping appropriate records, and monitoring third-party vendors can help create a more consistent compliance program. Complaints should be handled seriously and without retaliation.
Fair housing compliance is not simply a checklist. It requires examining how housing decisions are actually made and whether policies produce consistent, lawful treatment.
Because requirements can vary by jurisdiction and change over time, housing providers and professionals facing complex situations should consult current government guidance or qualified legal counsel. A proactive approach can reduce compliance risks while helping ensure that applicants and residents receive fair treatment throughout the housing process.