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Did you know that housing discrimination is against the law?

Lets say a person who has a mental problem and sees a therapist wants to rent an apartment from me, If i turn her down because she sees a therapist, I would be in violation of the fair housing act, and i could be fined $5,000 and up to one year in prison. Thats according to the United Stated department of housing and urban development. Is that fair?

Public Comments

1. it fair since its been determined that the person can function on their own
2. you aren't going to be told of their medical/psychological condition anyway. and it's fair as long as they've no history of damaging landlord's premises -- which is what you're concerned about anyway.
3. Every Land Lord should know the Fair Housing Laws and the ADA laws before even considering becoming a land lord. It is necessity, the same as learning the tax code before becoming a CPA. You can not hold a medical condition against someone. You can hold their conduct as a result of the medical condition against them though. For example, someone is Bi-Polar, they go from being the greatest guy on the planet to a Land lords night mare and destroys things, causes problems with other tenants, etc. You can not evict them or deny rental for being Bi-polar, You can Evict them for damaging property or causing a disturbance. You can even refuse to rent to them because they have a rental history of having damaged or caused a disturbance. You simply never mention the protected class, and stick iwth the actual conduct you can legally use to refuse to rent to them.
4. How would you know that the person has mental problems and sees a therapist. Prospective tenants dont mention that sort of personal information. That may be called a disability and on that basis you cannot turn them down but why should that be a problem if they pass the credit check, employment check, criminal background check, and they have sufficient income to cover the rent and security deposit. If you are uncomfortable with an obviously deranged person, there must be some way around renting to that person like charging a huge security deposit. A lot of people see therapists but that does not mean they are problem tenants. As long as you get your security deposit, if they violate the lease in any way, they are out.
5. So, turn her down for something legal. Fruit jobs usually have really bad credit, you can deny her for that. Or, they had complaints against them at a previous address, you can deny for that. She also may have a criminal record. Not all discrimination is illegal, you should be able to find a legit reason to take a pass.