Things Landlords Should Know About Fair Housing

The right to choose a home free from unlawful discrimination is what fair housing is all about. Discrimination in housing transactions involving rent, sales, lending, and insurance are protected by federal, state and local fair housing laws. Moreover, these fair housing laws guarantee you the right to choose the best accommodation for your needs and your family situation, religion, race, regardless of age or ability level, without imposing any outside choice or stereotype.

To understand how to be a welcoming and vibrant neighbor, fair housing is practised. In today’s tough economic period, these reasonable housing practices with the combination of ideas, connections and feelings of pride in diverse and open spaces make a unique distinction while enabling you to deal with difficult times. In economic development, talent retention and more of our community, equal access to housing develop the quality of life.

Advertising

A landlord needs to advertise in order to rent his property. But when placing the advertisement, you must explain to clients about the opportunities of your property and let them know about the type of accommodation you are renting. A landlord should never talk about their rental property being significant to a young couple because it might be considered discriminating against families with children. In addition, landlords should not call their property as secured or exclusive because it may refer to only renting to a specific group of people. Landlords should mention a fair housing logo or disclaimer that the community does not discriminate based on religion, national origin, gender, disability, race, and family status. A landlord should discuss with an attorney before using photographs in advertising.

Screening/Applications

As a result of the application and screening process, fair housing claims are often raised. A landlord always wants his tenant to be obedient to all applicable laws regarding fair housing. This includes the guidelines for occupancy in the rental policy, the eligibility criteria, explanation of requirements, etc.. The questions included in the application should be limited to drug/alcohol use and litigation when landlords ask their residents, and should not ask about physical or mental disabilities. Furthermore, a landlord can ask his prospective resident about some things to learn valuable information,. Including money judgments such as bankruptcy, why residents left their current landlord, etc. Once a written policy has been formulated, residents should show strict adherence and compliance with that policy.

Reasonable Accommodation

Except that a client voluntarily makes an exception to their standard rules for the resident’s disability, a tenant’s only request to the landlord is to provide reasonable accommodation. The accommodation required by the tenant to the landlord must be fair and no unreasonable burden should be presented to the landlord. If a resident’s application is rejected, then the statement regarding the rejection, the information behind the denial, how the data was found, how it was proposed to meet the resident all should be sent to the resident via a letter. In addition, residents who have requested an accommodation should wait for the accommodation, a landlord shouldn’t try to extend the time to provide it.

Record Keeping

For the sake of security, a landlord needs to keep a record of all his current/past residents as well as all possible residents. Landlords can create a guest card or log along with the relevant information and a record of all calls made by potential residents even if a resident never comes to see the property. If an application is retracted or rejected, it should still be kept in touch with all those applications because this information may be subsequently required later. Furthermore, landlords must keep track of how long the application records should be kept, as well as the types of documents to be maintained, because landlords are required to comply with federal and state law changes. Landlords can even seek the help of an attorney in case it is required from https://expressevictions.com/eviction-process/. Fair housing can successfully defend claims that is usually needed to create a consistent record that shows the nondiscriminatory application of written screening criteria in each case.

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