Fair housing laws foster justness and prevent discrimination in housing, and their goal is to guarantee that everybody has the privilege of a secure and agreeable home. However, comprehending and observing these rules can sometimes prove hard for rental property managers and owners. While the plan behind fair housing guidelines is less complicated, putting them into effect can be a bit more complex.
Understanding fair housing laws and how they apply to you is essential to keeping your rental properties compliant. Continue reading to learn about the basics of fair housing laws, common compliance issues, and excellent methods for rental property owners and managers.
Understanding Fair Housing Laws
The initial phase to understanding fair housing laws is knowing that, depending on where your rental property is situated, several regulations at the federal, state, and local levels may apply.
The first law most individuals perceive regarding fair housing is the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968. This legislation prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and familial status at a national level. The rules apply to housing sales, rentals, and financing, striving to guarantee equal access in all housing-related transactions.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approves this regulation, which examines criticisms and works to uphold fair housing standards across the U.S. On top of the Fair Housing Act, other federal housing laws support and highlight the concepts of fair housing. Together, these strategies make progress toward a more equitable housing landscape across the country.
Aside from federal regulations, several state and local laws offer extra confidence for renters, resolving issues like eviction rights, security deposit limits, and discrimination due to income source, sexual orientation, or gender identity. A few towns have rent control or stabilization regulations to prevent excessive rent increases, guaranteeing housing affordability in high-demand areas. Local tenant rights may also include securities against eviction during severe climates, access to habitability standards, and necessities for open interaction between landlords and tenants. You can get further information about housing laws in your state online.
Common Compliance Challenges for Property Owners
Comprehending the protocols is a significant initial step, but it is similarly important to comprehend common scenarios that may result in housing law violations and how to avoid them. For instance, a few common challenges rental property owners and landlords face in obeying fair housing laws often result from implicit bias or reliance on outdated approaches.
For example, tenant screening can be difficult for some property managers and owners because federal law doesn’t allow you to decline to lease to somebody because of their disability status, age, or familial status. Along these lines, choosing ahead of time that you will only rent to adults without kids, for instance, or that you won’t rent to people in their 20s, would both be examples of housing discrimination.
A comparable issue can arise when marketing the property, where property owners and managers may need to advertise for a specific kind of tenant. These approaches also typically run afoul of state and federal housing laws. By observing these difficulties 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 important steps to ensure that your property management strategies comply with fair housing laws, such as making and obeying a standardized application process and creating rules for tenant evaluations, which is the best way to keep away from unintentional discrimination. Other best practices to ensure compliance include:
- Utilize inclusive language in rental advertisements to prevent prejudicial statements or inclinations.
- Be consistent with giving the same data, following the same procedures, and performing the same follow-up actions for every candidate.
- Ensure that your lease terms, rules, and policies are equally fair to all tenants.
- Remain well-versed about reasonable accommodations for tenants with ill health and respond to such requests promptly and appropriately.
- Keep detailed records of all applications, interactions, and choices, documenting your reasons for approvals and denials in case of future disputes or inquiries.
- Communicate with an attorney or legal expert when creating strategies or dealing with complicated cases.
Creating and upholding a written non-discrimination policy that utters your obligation to Fair Housing compliance is important to keep up with consistency.
Property Management Companies in Fair Housing Compliance
Experienced property managers ought to see all applicable local, state, and federal regulations. In addition, as trained professionals, they have procedures to guarantee that your tenant relations, screening, documentation, and other functions comply with these regulations. This can give you peace of mind and help reduce the risk of discrimination claims altogether.
Building a Fair Housing Culture
With such a huge amount in question in an investment property, it’s critical to understand laws governing rental properties, housing, and related matters to effectively prevent legal problems. Property owners can assist with ensuring equitable treatment for all tenants by comprehending and upholding fair housing laws.
Working with an experienced property management company such as Real Property Management Concordia provides the expertise to manage the complications of fair housing rules in East Nashville and adjoining areas. Contact us today or call 623-217-0413 for more data on ensuring housing law agreements and other superb 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.
