Fair housing laws support fairness, prevent discrimination in housing, and aim to ensure that everyone has the right to a safe and comfortable home. However, it can be occasionally difficult for rental property managers and owners to comprehend and abide by these requirements. Fair housing laws have a simple goal, but putting them into practice can be a little more difficult.
Understanding fair housing laws and how they apply to you is imperative to keeping your rental properties compliant. Hang around to discover the fundamentals of fair housing laws, common compliance matters, and ideal approaches for rental property owners and managers.
Understanding Fair Housing Laws
The primary step to understanding fair housing laws is comprehending that, depending on where your rental property is positioned, various laws at the federal, state, and local levels might be applicable.
The first law several individuals think of regarding fair housing is the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968. This regulation prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and family status at a national level. The law pertains to housing sales, rentals, and financing, striving to ensure equal access in all housing-related transactions.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) carries out this regulation, which inspects criticisms and works to uphold fair housing standards across the U.S. Besides the Fair Housing Act, other federal housing laws sustain and highlight the values of fair housing. Jointly, these guidelines work toward a more equitable housing landscape throughout the country.
Other than federal regulations, numerous state and local laws deliver additional protections for renters, tackling concerns like eviction rights, security deposit limits, and discrimination based on income source, sexual orientation, or sexual identity. Some towns have rent control or stabilization regulations to prevent excessive rent increases, guaranteeing housing affordability in high-demand areas. Local tenant rights may also incorporate securities against eviction during severe weather, access to habitability standards, and necessities for clear communication between landlords and tenants. You can find more data about housing laws in your state online.
Common Compliance Challenges for Property Owners
Understanding the regulation is a critical initial step, but it is also vital to comprehend common scenarios that may result in housing law violations and how to evade them. For illustration, some common challenges rental property owners and landlords face in obeying fair housing laws typically arise from implicit bias or reliance on out-of-date methods.
In particular, tenant screening can be troublesome for some property managers and owners because federal law does not permit you to refuse to rent to someone based on their disability status, age, or familial status. Consequently, choosing beforehand that you will only rent to adults without children, for instance, or that you won’t rent to individuals in their 20s, would both be examples of housing discrimination.
The same problem can happen when marketing the property, where property owners and managers may need to promote a specific kind of tenant. These tactics also typically run afoul of state and federal housing laws. By understanding these issues and adjusting your screening and marketing methods, you can better ensure fair and equitable treatment of all prospective residents.
Best Practices for Ensuring Compliance
There are critical measures to guarantee that your property management strategies obey fair housing laws, such as producing and following a standardized application process and creating criteria for tenant selections, which is the appropriate method to avoid unintended discrimination. Other best practices to ensure compliance include:
- Use inclusive language in rental advertisements to avoid discriminatory testimonials or inclinations.
- Be consistent with presenting the same information, following the same procedures, and accomplishing the same follow-up actions for each applicant.
- Ensure that your lease terms, guidelines, and rules are equally fair to all tenants.
- Stay well-versed about reasonable accommodations for tenants with disabilities, and respond to such requests promptly and appropriately.
- Keep detailed records of all applications, connections, and decisions, documenting your reasons for approvals and denials in case of future disputes or inquiries.
- Communicate with an attorney or legal expert when establishing guidelines or dealing with difficult scenarios.
Creating and obeying a written non-discrimination policy that demonstrates your obligation to Fair Housing compliance is helpful to maintain reliability.
Property Management Companies in Fair Housing Compliance
Experienced property managers must comprehend all applicable local, state, and federal rules. Additionally, as trained professionals, they have courses to guarantee that your tenant relations, screening, documentation, and other functions comply with these regulations. This can give you calmness and help reduce the risk of discrimination claims altogether.
Building a Fair Housing Culture
With so much in danger in an investment property, it’s critical to be familiar with laws governing rental properties, housing, and connected problems to prevent legal consequences more easily. Property owners can help ensure equitable treatment for all tenants by comprehending and complying with fair housing laws.
Collaborating with an experienced property management company like Real Property Management Lakeview grants the knowledge to navigate the difficulties of fair housing rules in The Colony and neighboring areas. Contact us today or call 940-323-0505 for additional data on guaranteeing 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.
