Fair Housing Act

Picture this: A gay couple visits your leasing office asking about available one-bedroom apartments. There are two such apartments available, but your leasing agent shows the couple only one — because she's heard the neighboring resident use gay slurs and wants to keep the couple away from him. Since she's only trying to protect the couple, her actions don't violate fair housing law.

While concerning, those numbers aren’t all that surprising. But what is surprising is that retaliation complaints more than doubled from the previous year to the highest recorded level. 

Once that happens, it becomes impossible to predict the outcome, since each case turns on the specific facts and circumstances and the credibility of the parties and witnesses involved.

Under the FHA, it’s unlawful to “coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with” anyone who has exercised her rights under fair housing law—as well as anyone who has helped or encouraged someone to do so.

2024 Fair Housing Litigation - Cases of Significance - Single Incident Must Be Egregious to Constitute Hostile Environment Harassment

(First in a series of Six Articles)

Why do landlords need a briefing on fair housing cases? The answer to that question is based on four facts:  

HUD recently announced that it has charged a landlord and its property managers in Manchester, N.H. with violating the Fair Housing Act by retaliating, threatening, or interfering with a tenant’s fair housing rights.

Virtually all forms of “familial discrimination” became illegal under the FHAA, such as the refusal to rent to tenants because they had children; imposing different terms or conditions of rental depending upon whether they had children; discouraging persons from living in a manufactured housing community if they had children, etc.

Fair housing law generally prohibits discrimination based on familial status, but there’s a limited exception that applies to senior housing communities that qualify as “housing for older persons.” To qualify, senior housing communities must meet strict technical requirements.

Having a one-size-fits-all approach also can lead to fair housing trouble when it has a discriminatory effect on people protected under fair housing law. One example involves occupancy policies: If they’re too restrictive, they can have a discriminatory effect on families with children.

In its Charge of Discrimination HUD alleges that the property manager and owner of a 10-unit apartment complex retaliated against the tenant after the tenant informed the property manager that his unwanted conduct