Re: Question for the landlord forum # of residents

Re: Question for the landlord forum # of residents by MrDan (Georgia) on September 30, 2014 @21:18

From some training info on 'Occupancy Standards'

Many landlords believe that as long as they follow a policy of “2 person per bedroom” that they will be fine. Unfortunately that is not always the case. There is no clear-cut occupancy guideline and as such there is confusion amongst landlords, management companies, and even the attorneys representing them.

In what is referred to as the 'Keating Memo', the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) stated that it believes that “an occupancy policy of two persons per bedroom, as a general rule, is reasonable under the Fair Housing Act.” However, the memo goes on to say that “the reasonableness of any occupancy policy is rebuttable” and HUD clarifies that the memos it issued in the past on the subject of occupancy standards do not state or imply that HUD will determine compliance with the Fair Housing Act based solely on the number of people permitted in each bedroom.

“Thus, the Department believes that in appropriate circumstances, owners and managers may develop and implement reasonable occupancy requirements based on factors such as the number and size of bedrooms and the overall size of the dwelling unit.”

In the Keating Memo, HUD sets forth what factors it will consider when reviewing fair housing complaints involving occupancy issues:

1. Size of the bedroom and unit
2. Age of the children
3. Configuration of the unit
4. Other physical limitations of housing (i.e. capacity of the septic, sewer, or other building systems)
5. State and local law
6. Other relevant factors, such as:
- If the landlord has made discriminatory statements
- If the landlord has taken steps to discourage families with children from living in its housing
- If the landlord has enforced its occupancy policies only against families with children

The key issue or focus in discrimination cases that involve occupancy limits is always whether or not the landlord is discriminating against a family with children. So even if your occupancy policy is reasonable, if you make some discriminatory comment to the applicant, you can forget about hiding behind your occupancy standards. As such, an occupancy policy based on the number of children per unit is much less likely to be found to be reasonable than one which limits the number of persons per unit.

http://www.theday.com/article/20121210/NWS01/121219954/1047/rss01

http://www.loansafe.org/doj-reaches-settlement-with-mississippi-rental-property-managers-for-discriminating-against-families-with-children

http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2013/HUDNo.13-124

"I prefer a working couple but will accept a limited amount of children 2 or 3?" would most likely invite a complaint as being disciminating against families.

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