Fair housing laws encourage equality, prevent discrimination in housing, and strive to make sure that everyone has the right to a safe and cozy home. Still, getting to grips with these laws can be a bit tricky for rental property managers and owners. Although the purpose of fair housing regulations is clear, putting them into practice can be a little more challenging.
Understanding fair housing laws and how they relate to you is important to keeping your rental properties compliant. Stay with us to discover the essentials of fair housing laws, typical compliance challenges, and top tips for rental property owners and managers.
Understanding Fair Housing Laws
The first step to understanding fair housing laws is knowing that, depending on where your rental property is located, a number of laws at the federal, state, and local levels may apply.
The first law that comes to mind for many when discussing fair housing is the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968. This law prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and familial status at a national level. The law is designed to cover housing sales, rentals, and financing, with the goal of making sure everyone has equal access to all housing-related transactions.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is here to enforce this law, investigating complaints and upholding fair housing standards across the U.S. Along with the Fair Housing Act, other federal housing laws support and reinforce the values of fair housing. These regulations come together to create a more equitable housing landscape across the nation.
In addition to federal regulations, various state and local laws provide extra protections for renters, covering topics such as eviction rights, security deposit limits, and discrimination based on income source, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Some cities have rent control or stabilization laws to prevent excessive rent increases, ensuring housing accessibility in high-demand areas. Local tenant rights may also involve protections against eviction during extreme weather, access to habitability standards, and requirements for transparent interaction between landlords and tenants. Feel free to check online for more information about housing laws in your state.
Common Compliance Challenges for Property Owners
Understanding the laws is a great first step, but it’s just as important to be aware of common scenarios that may result in housing law violations and how to steer clear of them. For illustration, some common challenges rental property owners and landlords face in following fair housing laws often stem from implicit bias or the use of outdated practices.
For example, tenant screening can be a bit tricky for some property managers and owners since federal law prohibits declining to rent to someone based on their disability status, age, or familial status. Choosing to rent only to adults without children or excluding people in their 20s would be examples of housing discrimination.
A similar situation can come up when marketing the property, where property owners and managers may want to advertise for a specific type of tenant. These methods often conflict with state and federal housing laws. By acknowledging these challenges and adjusting your screening and marketing methods, you can better ensure fair and equitable treatment of all prospective residents.
Best Practices for Ensuring Compliance
It’s important to take some key steps to make sure your property management strategies align with fair housing laws. This includes establishing a standardized application process and setting clear criteria for tenant screenings, which helps prevent any unintentional discrimination. Other best practices to ensure compliance include:
- Use inclusive language in rental advertisements to avoid discriminatory declarations or preferences.
- Be consistent with delivering the same information, following the same procedures, and completing the same follow-up actions for each applicant.
- Make sure that your lease terms, rules, and strategies are equally fair to all tenants.
- Keep yourself updated on reasonable accommodations for tenants with disabilities, and respond to such requests promptly and appropriately.
- Keep detailed records of all applications, interactions, and decisions, noting your reasons for approvals and denials in case of future disputes or inquiries.
- Consult an attorney or legal expert when developing policies or dealing with tricky situations.
Creating and following a written non-discrimination policy that shows your keenness to Fair Housing compliance is a great way to ensure consistency.
Property Management Companies in Fair Housing Compliance
It is important for experienced property managers to be familiar with all the local, state, and federal regulations that apply. Additionally, as trained professionals, they have established processes to make sure that your tenant relations, screening, documentation, and other functions comply with these regulations. This can help you feel more at ease and reduce the risk of discrimination claims altogether.
Building a Fair Housing Culture
When it comes to investment property, being aware of laws governing rental properties, housing, and related matters is key to steering clear of any legal troubles. Property owners can help ensure equitable treatment for all tenants by learning about and following fair housing laws.
Working with an experienced property management company like Real Property Management Valor Team offers the support needed to handle the intricacies of fair housing regulations in Aurora and adjacent areas. Contact us today or call 440-534-6700 for more information on how we can help you with housing law compliance and other quality management services.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
