Re: Income Discrimnation / Section 8? - Landlord Forum thread 346825

Re: Income Discrimnation / Section 8? by MrDan (GA) on July 27, 2016 @15:21

First I'll preface this with that one of my business organizations has help many thousands of landlords, owners and property management company's deal with the ramifications, restrictions and requirements in conjuncture with complaints or charges of Fair Housing violations over the years.

I can truthfully state that the biggest cause of fair housing complaints or charges are due to the landlords, owners or managements' attitude and their mouth (90%) and the remaining 10% due to ignorance of the FHAA rules and regulations.

'Section 8'
As a general rule, a landlord should never just state they "Do Not Take Section 8" out right as that can easily lead to a complaint of discrimination because of other possible reasons. Professional landlords often reply that they are not involved in the section 8 program (unless your State or local law requires) or they do not participate in the section 8 program. Many often have a list of rental communities nearby that accept section 8 to provide to the applicant. A clear choice of words, actions and respect are often the difference between 10's of thousands of dollars and a thank you from the applicant. Statistics show that landlords with bad attitudes make less money and have more tenant trouble than those landlords who are professional in their approach to handling applicants and/or tenants.

If you are giving vague reasons when to 'reject' (turndown or decline are better words to use) then you will have an impossible time in defending any fair housing complaint or charge. Under the Fair Housing Laws, you do not have to have intent to discriminate but just the potential that discrimination could occur is in itself a violation.

Income Requirements
As to 'demanding' (requiring is a better word) that applicants make at least $5,000 net pay in order to pass our screening process can lead to potentials issues also.
Seems that you are requiring that applicants have jobs in order to be accepted. That would lead to FHAA violations where a potential applicant might have other sources of income that could meet the requirements of rent, utilities and living cost. Such a requirement should best be included in your written rental criteria, which should be given to every applicant before they apply so they will know what qualifications are to be met in order to rent and what reasons for disqualification that would deny them the rental.

Occupancy Standards
" speaking to tenants, can I set a limit on # people living in the house?"

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 completely correct. There is no clear-cut occupancy guideline which often causes much confusion with landlords, management companies, and even their attorneys representing them.

The key focus in discrimination cases involving landlords setting occupancy limits are whether or not the landlord is discriminating against a family with children (familiar status). So even if the landlords’ occupancy policy is reasonable, if the landlord makes some discriminatory comment to the applicant or even shows an attitude in replying, forget about hiding behind any occupancy standards. Remember that an occupancy policy based on the number of children per unit is more likely to be found to be unreasonable than one which reasonably limits the number of persons per unit.

HUD states 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."

Just last week (July 22, 2016), HUD filed charge against an Indiana based Property Management Company and Landlords because they had a restrictive policy of no more than two persons per bedroom when such rooms or other areas could allow additional occupants due to their size and space. The general accepted reasonable occupancy standard is 'two per bedroom plus one", but HUD states "the reasonableness of any occupancy policy is rebuttable" and that 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.

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Re: Income Discrimnation / Section 8? by Laura on July 28, 2016 @13:03	[ Reply ]

Mr Dan, thank you for your insight, the valuable info and good explanations. You make me think about things in a different light. I also realize the way you explain to people can be the difference between a thank you and a disgusted look or worse. I do like how you made the point with the alternative choice of words too.