Fair Housing Alert: Hidden Flaws in ChatGPT, Bard, Bing, and Other Generative AI Products - Potentially Discriminatory

Like other real estate businesses, you may be using ChatGPT, Bard, Bing, and other generative AI products, a.k.a. chatbots, for marketing purposes, such as developing advertising strategies, analyzing housing markets, and generating property listings, ads, social media posts, and other marketing content. Just recognize that for all their potential benefits, chatbots contain flaws that make them risky to use for marketing and advertising.

 

 

Among these flaws is the possibility of hidden bias. Explanation: Data and algorithms built into chatbots may incorporate the subtle prejudices of the humans who create them. They can also learn prejudice from the way they’re deployed.

Phil Querin Article: Changes to Applicant Screening Procedures

 

HB 2680 makes several changes to the procedure for tenant screening under ORS 90.295. These changes will be updated in the MHCO Forms.

Screening Notice. The law specifies that upon completion of an applicant’s screening by a screening company or consumer credit agency, the landlord must provide the prospective tenant with confirmation of the screening and a receipt for the screening service from the company and/or agency.

 

Changes to Tenant Screening Notice. If a landlord intends to charge an applicant for screening, the landlord must provide notice of various information related to screening and landlord policies (see MHCO Form 1B). One of the things an applicant must be notified of is the landlord’s commitment to non-discrimination.

Fair Housing Pitfall: Overly Restrictive Occupancy Standards

 

While vital to prevent overcrowding, occupancy standards may violate fair housing rules to the extent they have the effect of excluding families with children.

Spot the Discrimination Mistake

A tenant who shares a one-bedroom apartment with her husband tells the landlord she’s pregnant with the couple’s first child. Along with a smile and warm congratulations, the landlord offers her an eviction notice. Explanation: Once the baby is born, the couple will be over the community’s strict two-person-per-bedroom occupancy standard.

 

Pitfall: In 1991, HUD issued guidance called the Keating Memo establishing two-per-bedroom as the default standard for reasonable occupancy standards. However, attorneys caution that the most common mistake landlords make with occupancy standards is applying the two-per-bedroom rule on a blanket basis.

Phil Querin Q&A: Trespassers on Community Property

 

Question. When I try to trespass people off of park grounds, the cops refuse to do so based on the reasoning that they could be invited there by a resident, and they (the cops) have no way of knowing. I have dealt with this issue in numerous parks throughout Oregon, so I know I am not the only one. What can we do?

 

    Answer:  I will address this in a series of suggestions which will hopefully provide some answers and/or approaches. First, remember that park property is private property. The landlord owns the spaces and common areas, and the residents own their home.

    Fair Housing Pit Fall: Adult Supervision

     

    Adult supervision requirements are the leading source of pool-related family discrimination complaints. The safety rationale for such rules is clear. After all, swimming without adult supervision is the leading cause of drowning deaths for young children.

    Spot the Discrimination Mistake

    The precise rule: “Children ages 18 and younger may not use the swimming pool unless they are supervised by a parent.”

    Fair Housing Pit Falls: Not Allowing Children to Use the Community Swimming Pool

     

    Family status is the fourth most commonly alleged ground of federal fair housing discrimination, trailing only disability, sex, and race. Many familial status complaints are the result of misguided safety rules involving children, particularly with regard to swimming pools.  

    Spot the Discrimination Mistake

    Without the financial resources to provide lifeguards, a landlord adopts a safety rule banning children from using the community swimming pool.   

    Phil Querin Q&A: Fences, Damage, and Landlord Liability

     

    Question. I am looking for information dealing with fence liability between landlords and tenants, and between tenants and other tenants.

    Our Park Management has not put up any fences. All fences were installed by current and past tenants. Generally, my questions relate to the duty to maintain these fences, liability from trees (hazard and otherwise), and repair issues and fences that were installed by past vs. current tenants.

     

    Answer:  This is a very broad question, which is why the answer will have to be general. What follows are some of the major issues that occur.

    Fair Housing Pit Falls: Charging Tenants a Fee to Process Accommodations Requests

    Designated parking spaces for mobility-impaired tenants is another frequent source of reasonable accommodations complaints and legal mistakes. Consider this common scenario.

    Spot the Discrimination Mistake

    A landlord is ready, willing, and able to provide designated parking and other reasonable accommodations for mobility-impaired individuals, provided that those individuals are willing to pay the costs of processing the request.

    Pitfall: The ban on charging a fee for granting a requested reasonable accommodation also applies to charging fees or deposits for processing an accommodations request.

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