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Q: What are
some common unlawful acts of discrimination?
A: Refusing to sell, rent or negotiate - It is
against the law to take any of the following actions because a person is a member of one
of the protected categories:
- To refuse to engage in a real estate transaction
- To refuse to rent or sell housing
- To discriminate in terms, conditions, or privileges for the
sale or rental of housing
- To refuse to receive or fail to transmit a bona fide offer
to engage in a real estate transaction
- To indicate that housing is not available when it actually
is available
- To discriminate by providing different facilities or
services
- To refuse to negotiate for housing
Steering Steering - Discouraging a person from seeking housing
in a particular community, neighborhood, or development because the person is or is not a
member of a protected category. For example, a real estate agent shows a black person
housing in predominately black neighborhoods and a white person housing in predominately
white neighborhoods.
Interference, coercion, or intimidation - Trying to
limit the benefits of renting or buying housing in an area because the person is a member
of one of the protected categories. This includes trying to coerce, threaten, intimidate,
retaliate against, or interfere in any way with the use and enjoyment of housing.
Discriminatory advertising - Advertising or making
any statement which indicates directly or indirectly an intent to make a limitation,
specification, or to discriminate with respect to members of one of the protected
categories.
Blockbusting (also referred to as panic peddling) -
Trying, in a direct or subtle way, to scare a person into moving out of a neighborhood by
representing that a person from one of the protected categories is considering or is in
fact moving into the neighborhood would decline or that the crime rate would increase if
members of a protected category moved into the neighborhood would be unlawful.
Redlining - Being denied or subjected to stricter
conditions in applying for a loan on property in a particular area because of the racial
composition of the area, including loans to purchase, construct, improve, repair, or
maintain housing.
Q: Can a person other than the
seller or landlord be guilty of violating the fair housing laws?
A: Yes. Anyone involved in the real estate
transaction that discriminates based on a protected category has violated the fair housing
laws. For example, a local banker informs a real estate agent that if the agent allows
anyone else with kids to move into the neighborhood, the bank will not do business with
the agent or the agent's customers.
Q: Does an owner have to rent or
sell to a person just because he or she is in a protected category?
A: No. Owners may rent or sell to whomever they
choose as long as their decisions are not based on the fact that a would-be tenant or
buyer is a member a protected category. If someone from a protected category becomes a
tenant, the owner may hold that tenant to the same standard of performance and behavior as
everyone else.
Q: Can landlords protect
themselves from complaints of discrimination when they reject someone from a protected
category?
A: Yes. A landlord should have
detailed standards for deciding who is acceptable as a tenant and who is not. However,
these standards may not be based upon a prospective tenant's membership in a protected
category. Such standards are particularly important in decisions to reject a tenant
applicant because of poor credit, and to place would-be tenants on a "waiting
list". The landlord should then apply these standards equally to every tenant
applicant. If a waiting list is used, the landlord must make sure that every applicant who
is told that his or her name will be placed on the list is indeed put there and that, as
an applicant's name comes up, the applicant is notified of this fact.
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