Fair Housing Act and CA Housing Laws and San Diego Housing Laws.

[Coronita]

Folks. On another thread we were talking about rental property, and getting “good tenants”…
Everytime I think about getting good tenants and thinking about “screening”, I can’t help but think about Fair Housing Act and other such laws known or unknown…

Especially in a ultra sensitive, highly P.C. type of environment we are in, the last thing anyone wants to screen to the point that it violates laws and rights..And even if things were legally allowed, there is the question ethics/morality/humanity/decency…

..But to me a lot of scenarios appear to me to be gray area?? There are things that are really obvious.

Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to discriminate based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap:

http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/FHLaws/yourrights
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/hce/title8.php

Rightfully so imho…But I’m curious, there are a lot of other forms of “preferences” of a tenant, to me which makes be cringe at times, because sometimes these feel just not necesarily right..

I wanted to present some hypothetical situations in which a to be landlord expresses some form of tenant “preference”.. What I would like piggs to chime in, is describe (1) is it illegal (2) if not, personally do you think it’s humane/ethical/morally ok..(HEM)…

Disclaimer: Please don’t think I’m suggesting that I plan on doing any such forms of discrimination. I figure the more folks know, the less likely they are to get in trouble…Also, there are things in my mind that are clearly not humane/ethical/morally correct. I’m going to ask them if they are or not anyway, just because I’m curious what others think…

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. Respect other people’s posts here..

1. If someone was commented as begin legal/illegal and you know it is not the case, please comment on that, without attacking the person (IE: “you’re an idiot if you think that is legal or illegal”)

2. If something is legal, but you disagree with the someone’s HEM viewpoint, again, there’s a difference between asking about why the person feels that way versus (“IE: “I can’t believe you’re an idiot for thinking that way”)

Also found the CA link
http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/discrimination.shtml

A landlord cannot refuse to rent to a tenant, or engage in any other type of discrimination, on the basis of group characteristics specified by law that are not closely related to the landlord’s business needs. Race and religion are examples of group characteristics specified by law.35 Arbitrary discrimination on the basis of any personal characteristic such as those listed under this heading also is prohibited36. Indeed, the California Legislature has declared that the opportunity to seek, obtain and hold housing without unlawful discrimination is a civil right.37

Under California law, it is unlawful for a landlord, managing agent, real estate broker, or salesperson to discriminate against a person or harass a person because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or medical conditions related to them, as well as gender and perception of gender), sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, or disability39. California law also prohibits discrimination based on any of the following:

A person’s medical condition or mental or physical disability; or
Personal characteristics, such as a person’s physical appearance or sexual orientation that are not related to the responsibilities of a tenant;40 or
A perception of a person’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, disability or medical condition, or a perception that a person is associated with another person who may have any of these characteristics.41

Under California law, a landlord cannot use a financial or income standard for persons who want to live together and combine their incomes that is different from the landlord’s standard for married persons who combine their incomes. In the case of a government rent subsidy, a landlord who is assessing a potential tenant’s eligibility for a rental unit must use a financial or income standard that is based on the portion of rent that the tenant would pay.42 A landlord cannot apply rules, regulations or policies to unmarried couples who are registered domestic partners that do not apply to married couples.43 Nor can a landlord inquire as to the immigration status of the tenant or prospective tenant or require that a tenant or prospective tenant make any statement concerning his or her immigration or citizenship status.44 It appears that discrimination on immigration or citizenship status results in illegal discrimination if it is arbitrary not related to the responsibilities of a tenant, or is, in effect, on the basis of race or national origin.45

It is illegal for landlords to discriminate against families with children under 18. However, housing for senior citizens may exclude families with children. “Housing for senior citizens” includes housing that is occupied only by persons who are at least age 62, or housing that is operated for occupancy by persons who are at least age 55 and that meets other occupancy, policy and reporting requirements stated in the law.46

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For the interest of discussion. Hypothetical examples will be posted in the comments section.

[Coronita]

1. Landlord expresses a preference of tenant that is “not a slob”… Legal? HEM?

2. Landlord expresses a preference of a tenant that is “not obese”… Or landlord expresses a preference for someone that is “obese” Legal? HEM?

Not legal in CA. Right?

3. Landlord expresses a preference of a tenant that of a particular sexual orientation? Legal? HEM?

Not legal in CA.

4. Landlord expresses a preference of a tenant that works at a particular type of job/qualification?

Example 4a. Landlords prefers to rent only to someone that works at company X. Because to promote a Company X team spirit. Legal? HEM?

Example 4b. Landlords prefers to rent only to someone that holds a specific type of degree. Legal? HEM?

Example 4c. Landlords prefers to rent only to someone that holds a specialty license such as a trade certification or security clearance. Legal? HEM?

5. Landlord prefers to rent to a specific education status… (IE must be college grad. Must have PHD)… Legal? HEM?

6. Landlord prefers to rent to only folks with a specific credit score or higher? Legal? HEM?

7. Landlord prefers to rent to folks with a specific citizenship status for which the information was voluntarily provided by the prospective tenant?

7a. Landlord prefers to rent to U.S. Citizens or Greencard holders only….No H1-B Visa holders… Reason is: landlord’s concern that the person will not stay for the duration of the lease….
Legal? HEM?

Not legal. National origin discrimination, right?

7b. Landlord prefers to rent H1-B Visa holders only… No U.S. Citizens or Greencard holders.
Reason is: landlord’s feels is H1-B holders will are less likely to break leave jobs and break rental contracts…

Not legal. Reverse national origin discrimination, right?

7c. Landlord prefers to rent to people with a specific income level?
Legal? HEM?

7d. Landlord prefers to rent to only people to people who do not cook certain types of food that would leave large odors in the kitchen…
For example, no stir frying, no heavy/pungent spices.
Legal? HEM?

7e. Landlord prefers to rent to only people of a particular political affiliation?
Legal? HEM?

8. Landlord refuses to rent to folks that are alcoholics/substance abuser although folks have never been either convicted criminally or even accused criminally (IE assuming that there is no criminal record, is this considered a medical condition?),
Legal? HEM?

9. Landlord refuses to rent to folks that do not possess an reading and writing English equivalency of more than than 8th year in grade school.

9a. Landlord refuses to rent to person born in the U.S. that never completed high school and does not have the equivalency of a high school reading/writing comprehension.
Legal? HEM?

9b. Landlord accepts to rent to person considered a foreigner who demonstrates reading/writing > 8th grade.
Legal? HEM?

10. Landlord prefers to rent to someone with section 8 voucher versus someone that uses traditional income…

(IE does this violate the CA source of income rule?)

Legal? HEM?

11. Landlord prefers to rent to someone that does not have a section 8 voucher versus someone that does.

Legal? HEM?

More examples to follow…

[Anonymous]

I suspect that it is extremely rare for these laws to come into play for the individual landlord who owns a few properties. Realistically, only apartment building owners, property managers, and other “professional” landlords need to be concerned about this legal minefield.

Of course there are always exceptions, and I’m sure there’s a few stories out there about someone who sued a guy who was just renting his condo. The question comes down to whether you can realistically protect against the possibility.

The people whom you really want to discriminate against are the litigious types. People who can’t read beyond an 8th grade level probably aren’t going to sue you.

As far as “HEM” goes. If you are bothering to ask, then you probably are doing far better than most.

[SD Realtor]

Hi Flu

Sounds like you are a soon to be landlord. I have been a landlord for over 10 years now. I understand that some people have had bad experiences but I have not had any of the nightmares that others have posted about.

I have my own preferences and methodologies that have worked well for me, however I don’t feel like posting and making them public. If you want to chat about them go ahead and pm me.

[Author]

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