Fair housing laws encourage parity, prevent discrimination in housing, and strive to make sure that one and all have the right to a harmless and cozy home. However, getting to grips with these laws can be a bit challenging for rental property managers and owners. Although the purpose of fair housing rules is simple, putting them into action can be a little more challenging.
Understanding fair housing laws and how they relate to you is imperative to keeping your rental properties compliant. Stay with us to learn the essentials of fair housing laws, typical compliance issues, 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 people 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 regulation is designed to cover housing sales, rentals, and financing, with the objective of making sure everyone has equal access to all housing-related transactions.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is here to implement this law, studying complaints and working to uphold fair housing standards across the U.S. Along with the Fair Housing Act, other federal housing laws support and emphasize the values of fair housing. These protocols come together to create a more equitable housing landscape across the nation.
Aside from federal regulations, various state and local laws provide extra protections for renters, covering matters such as eviction rights, security deposit limits, and discrimination based on income source, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Certain cities have rent control or stabilization laws to prevent excessive rent increases, guaranteeing housing accessibility in high-demand areas. Local tenant rights may also include protections against eviction during extreme climate, access to habitability standards, and the need for transparent interaction between landlords and tenants. Feel free to check online for further details about housing laws in your state.
Common Compliance Challenges for Property Owners
Recognizing the laws is an excellent first step, but it’s just as critical to be aware of common scenarios that may result in housing law violations and how to steer clear of them. For instance, some common challenges rental property owners and landlords face in obeying fair housing laws, which often result from implicit bias or the use of obsolete procedures.
For example, tenant screening can be a bit complicated for some property managers and owners since federal law prohibits refusing to rent to someone due to their disability status, age, or familial status. Deciding to rent only to adults without children or excluding people in their 20s would be examples of housing discrimination.
A comparable issue can come up when marketing the property, where property owners and managers may want to advertise for a particular type of tenant. These means often conflict with state and federal housing laws. By recognizing 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
You need to take some vital steps to make sure your property management strategies align with fair housing laws. This incorporates establishing a standardized application process and setting clear standards for tenant screenings, which helps avoid any unintentional discrimination. Other best practices to ensure compliance include:
- Use inclusive language in rental advertisements to circumvent discriminatory statements or preferences.
- Be consistent with providing 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 approaches 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 explanations for approvals and denials in case of future disputes or inquiries.
- Talk to 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 vital for experienced property managers to be familiar with all the local, state, and federal rules that apply. Additionally, as trained professionals, they have established procedures to make sure that your tenant relations, screening, documentation, and other roles comply with these regulations. This can help you feel more comfortable and reduce the risk of discrimination claims altogether.
Building a Fair Housing Culture
When it comes to investment property, familiarizing with laws governing rental properties, housing, and related matters is key to avoiding any legal troubles. Property owners can help ensure equitable treatment for all tenants by knowing about and following fair housing laws.
Collaborating with an experienced property management company like Real Property Management Expand provides the support needed to deal with the intricacies of fair housing regulations in Portland and adjacent areas. Contact us today or call 971-229-4555 for more data on how we can help you with housing law agreements 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.
