The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was enacted to protect buyers and renters from discrimination. The primary prohibition makes it illegal to refuse to rent or sell to a person because of their inclusion in a protected class. Federally protected classes include race, religion, sex, color, national origin, age, and disability. The Fair Housing Act is a federal law that all Houston Landlords are bound by.
Under the Fair Housing Act, a landlord (and their agents) are liable for any form of discrimination they intentionally or unintentionally engage in toward tenants or potential tenants. The only people who aren’t likely to be held responsible for discrimination are employees high up on the chain of command who would have no way of knowing about the discrimination.
For examples of what housing discrimination looks like, check out these examples from HUD’s website.
Although it’s a federal law, there are four common exemptions to the FHA:
These exemptions don’t apply federally, however. That means states can enact their own laws that don’t allow for any exceptions to the FHA. For example, California has strict state-level discrimination laws that don’t allow single-family homes to be exempted from the FHA.
An example of how states can enact laws tougher than federal law is California. In CA, housing is governed by two main laws that are more restrictive than the FHA: the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Unruh Act). Together, these two laws expand the scope of protection to include the following classes:
As you can see, the list of protected classes in California is extensive, and several major CA cities have expanded on these extended protected classes.
Texas housing laws aren’t as strict as California housing laws, but it’s always a good idea to avoid discriminating against people for any reason that doesn’t affect their ability to be a good tenant. For example, there’s no reason to discriminate based on a person’s ancestry. Ancestry has no bearing on whether or not a person will be a good tenant. While it’s not explicitly illegal to discriminate based on ancestry in Texas, it’s not right. Besides, a court might consider ancestral discrimination a form of racial discrimination. It’s not worth it.
Familial status has to do with families with children. Generally speaking, familial status protection applies to pregnant women and families with minor children and their legal guardians or custodians. A Texas landlord may not discriminate against a tenant because they have kids. Unfortunately, many landlords do discriminate against applicants with children.
Just like the federal Fair Housing Act, the Texas Fair Housing Act applies to the sale and rental of housing as well as mortgage lending, and prohibits discrimination based on familial status. Unless a building or community officially qualifies as senior housing, a Texas landlord may not discriminate against someone for familial status.
A 2018 court case (Wetzel v. Glen St. Andrew Living Community, LLC) held a landlord responsible for tenant-on-tenant harassment that was based on a protected class.
To some people’s surprise, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals interpreted the Fair Housing Act broadly, ruling that a landlord is liable for discrimination when they have actual notice of tenant-on-tenant harassment based on a tenant’s protected class, yet doesn’t take reasonable steps to stop the harassment.
In the case of Wetzel v. Glen St. Andrew Living Community, an older woman was repeatedly harassed and abused by residents in her new community for being a lesbian. She asked the landlord for help, but the landlord refused to take measures to stop the harassment. At that point, the landlord discriminated against Wetzel by limiting her use of facilities and began the process to evict her.
The court determined that had the landlord done nothing but listen to the tenant’s complaints, the court’s holding might have been more limited. However, the landlord intentionally engaged in discriminatory acts that were clearly retaliation for complaining, so the landlord was held liable for discrimination.
If you have multiple tenants that live in the same house or building, it’s your responsibility to take tenant complaints of discrimination seriously. Don’t leave your tenants high and dry by ignoring their complaints or you could find yourself in the middle of a lawsuit.
If your tenants frequently complain about another tenant who constantly disrupts the peace, you should check into it and do something about it. You have a moral obligation to do your best to create a community where your tenants feel welcome and safe. Knowingly allowing abuse to occur between your tenants is never acceptable.
The biggest frustration of being a landlord is dealing with tenant disputes. Instead of gritting your teeth each time you have to collect rent from a difficult tenant, contact us at Green Residential to find out how we can help you manage your property and your tenants.
We’ve got more than 30 years’ experience managing properties for landlords like you who just want to turn their investments into residual income and don’t have an interest in being the landlord. At Green Residential, we love being the landlord so you don’t have to. Contact us today for a free evaluation and find out what we can do for you!
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