1. Landlord - Tenant
2. Discrimination
3. Laws Against Housing Discrimination

Laws Against Housing Discrimination

Federal Law
State Law
What is Prohibited?
Special Provisions for People with Disabilities
Discrimination versus Families with Children
Exemptions to the Fair Housing Act
Enforcement Provisions and Penalties for Violations of the Law

Federal law restricts discrimination in the rental, sale, marketing and financing of housing on the basis of your race, color, faith, gender, nationwide origin, family status, i.e., pregnancy or having custody of a child under age 18 or special needs. Maryland and a lot of its regional jurisdictions have at least comparable laws, in addition to additional protections.

The national policy against housing discrimination is specified in the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968. In addition, there are provisions in the Civil liberty Act of 1866 which the Supreme Court of the United States has translated as forbiding "all racial discrimination, private along with public, in the sale or rental of residential or commercial property." Unlike the 1968 law, the 1866 law contains no exceptions and no limit on the quantity of damages which can be granted to a plaintiff.

Who is Protected?

The federal Fair Housing Act is contained in Title VIII of the Civil Liberty Act of 1968. It was modified in 1974 and once again in 1978. The Fair Housing Act forbids housing discrimination against a person who falls in any of the following seven groups. Anyone dealt with unjustly since of: race, color, religious beliefs, nationwide origin, sex, households with kids and people with disabilities (handicap). These 7 groups are thought about "safeguarded classes" under the Act and its modifications. "Protected classes" mean the categories of discrimination that are covered by the law.

Read the Law: The Fair Housing Act of 1968 (42 USC 3601, et seq.)

The courts have stated that Maryland's law is "considerably equivalent" to the federal law. In 2 crucial aspects, Maryland provides more security. First, Maryland broadens on the safeguarded classes of the federal law. You can not be victimized since of your marital status, gender identification, sexual orientation, or source of income.

Marital status is specified as "the state of being single, married, apart, separated or widowed." "Sexual preference" means the identification of an individual regarding male or female homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality. Gender identity is defined to mean the gender related identity, appearance, expression, or habits of an individual, despite the person's assigned sex at birth. In addition, there is a limit to the exemption for spaces or systems in a home in which the owner occupies a system as his/her primary home. In Maryland, these owners may turn down somebody based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status. However, they can not victimize somebody since of his/her race, color, religion, family status, national origin, impairment, or income source.

Read the Law: Md. Code, State Government, § 20-101, 20-704, 20-705

Local jurisdictions (such as the counties or towns) also secure all of the groups covered by federal and state law and frequently include additional classifications such as age (in Baltimore City, 18 or older), sexual preference, occupation and source of earnings. See regional law short articles.

The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to devote any of the following acts versus an individual who falls within any of the groups safeguarded by the law.

Sale or Rental of Residential Real Estate - Refuse to sell, lease or otherwise make not available or deny any home; discriminate in the terms or conditions of sale or leasing of a dwelling or in the provision of services or facilities. (Single sex housing is allowed, as an exception to this restriction, in circumstances where sharing of living locations is included.); or show that housing is not readily available when, in fact, it is.
Advertising Residential Real Estate - Make, print, release or cause to be made, printed or released, a notification, statement or ad connecting to the sale or leasing of housing that suggests a preference, restriction or discrimination.
Block Busting - Persuade or attempt to persuade, for earnings, an individual to offer or rent a home by making representations about the present or future entry into the community of several persons in a protected class.
Loans and Other Financial Assistance - Discriminate in the making or buying of loans or offering other financial support.
Brokerage and Appraisal Services - Discriminate in the brokering or appraisal of property property.
Participation in Real Estate Organizations - Deny access to, or establish various terms and conditions for, membership or participation in any numerous listing service, property brokers' organization or other service, organization or center connecting to the service of selling or renting of houses.
Intimidation, Coercion and Threats - Intimidate, coerce, threaten or interfere with an individual in one of the safeguarded classes in pleasure of rights given by the Fair Housing Act.

Special Provisions for People with Disabilities

Definition of Disability

The Fair Housing Act specifies disability (handicap) as a physical or psychological disability that significantly limits several of an individual's "significant life activities", a record of having such a problems, or being considered having such a problems. The law protects both the individual with an impairment and a person coping with or meaning to live with that person. It leaves out individuals who are unlawfully utilizing or addicted to drugs and other regulated compounds.
Special Protections - In addition to offering individuals with specials needs all of the protections against housing discrimination that are provided to members of the other 6 secured classes, the list below provisions of the Fair Housing Act provide crucial additional security.

Read the Law: 42 United States Code § 3602

The prohibition against discriminating in the terms and conditions of sale or leasing, restricts a property owner from asking any concerns of a person with a special needs than would be asked of any other candidate. A landlord may not, for instance, inquire about the nature or seriousness of a person's impairment or ask whether that person is capable of living alone.

Reasonable Accommodations

It is unlawful to refuse to make such reasonable changes in guidelines, policies, practices and services which may be required to manage a person with a special needs a level playing field to enjoy and use a residence. These "sensible accommodations" consist of such things as making an exception to a "no family pets" policy for a person who needs a service animal and offering a scheduled, designated parking location for an individual with a movement impairment.
Reasonable Modifications - It is illegal to decline to allow a person with a special needs to make, at his/her own cost, such reasonable modifications in the properties as may be essential to permit usage and pleasure of the facilities. "Reasonable modifications" consist of such things as installing grab bars to facilitate usage of bathroom facilities or the widening of a doorway to accommodate a wheelchair.

Read the Law: 42 United States Code § 3604

Full Accessibility of "New" Multi-Family Housing

Multi-family housing built for first tenancy after March 13, 1991 (i.e. structures including 4 or more systems) should be completely accessible to people with impairments. Itaf a building has an elevator, all units need to be available; if there is no elevator, only "ground flooring" units should be available. "Accessible" means:

1. There should be an available building entryway on an accessible route;
2. Public and typical usage locations need to be readily available to and functional by individuals with disabilities;
3. All inside doors must be broad enough to accommodate a wheelchair;
4. There must be an available route into and through the house;
5. Light switches, electrical outlets, thermostats and other environmental protections need to be available;
6. Bathroom walls should be strengthened to enable later on installation of grab bars; and
7. Kitchens and bathrooms should have sufficient area to permit maneuvering in a wheelchair.

Read the Law: 42 United States Code 3604(F)

Discrimination against Families with Children

Definition of "Familial Status" - As utilized in the Fair Housing Act, the term "familial status" (frequently called "households with kids") refers to a moms and dad or another person having legal custody of several people under the age of 18 years. It refers likewise to an individual who is pregnant or in the procedure of getting legal custody of a small kid.

Families with children enjoy under the law the exact same defense against housing discrimination as other groups safeguarded by the law. In only 2 circumstances, does the law license, as exceptions, discrimination against families with kids. Both exceptions pertain to so-called housing for older persons. Housing planned for and occupied exclusively by individuals 62 years of age or older and housing in which 80 percent of the systems are planned for and inhabited by a minimum of a single person who is 55 years of age or older do not need to comply with the law's familial status arrangements.

Discrimination against households with children manifests itself in numerous methods, the most typical of which remain in advertising (e.g. indicators that leasings are for "no kids" or "grownups only"), limiting tenancy standards that unreasonably limit the number of children who may occupy a provided area, and steering of households with children to separate buildings or parts of buildings.

Exemptions to the Fair Housing Act

The 4 exemptions to the Fair Housing Act are:

- A single-family home offered or leased by the owner, offered the owner does not own more than 3 such single household homes at one time and provided likewise that the sale or leasing is not marketed in a prejudiced way and is done without the services of a property representative, broker or sales person. If the seller does not reside in your house at the time of the rental or sale, or was not the most recent homeowner at the time of the rental or sale, just one sale of such a single-family house within any 24-month period is exempted.
- Dwelling systems or spaces in a building of four or less units, supplied the owner of the building inhabits one of the units as his house
- A home owned or run by a spiritual organization, or by a nonprofit organization owned or controlled by a spiritual company which limits or provides preference in the sale, rental or tenancy to individuals of the same religious beliefs, supplied subscription in the religious beliefs is not limited on the basis of race, color or nationwide origin.
- Lodging owned or operated by a private club as an incident to its primary function and not run for a commercial function. Club members might be given preference, or tenancy may be limited to members, offered club subscription is open to all without regard to race, color, religion, etc.

Read the Law: 42 United States Code § 3603, 3604, 3607

Enforcement Provisions and Penalties for Violations of the Law

State Law

The Maryland Commission on Civil Liberty has the duty of implementing discrimination laws. The Commission will examine allegations of housing discrimination and attempt to deal with the issue. Information on filing a problem and the investigative process are available on the Commission's site.

Victims of housing discrimination may also submit a suit with the appropriate state court.

Read the Law: Md. Code, State Government, § 20-702

Federal Law

HUD Administrative Complaints

An individual who thinks that s/he has actually been the victim of housing discrimination may submit a written complaint with the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) within one year after the prejudiced act happened. The Secretary should notify the plaintiff of the option of online forums for resolving the dispute and if the state or local jurisdiction has a public agency licensed to deal with such grievances, the Secretary needs to refer the problem to that agency.

The Secretary will try to moderate the dispute and reach a conciliation arrangement with the parties. If needed, the Secretary might ask the Attorney general of the United States to look for short-lived relief through court action. Under certain conditions, either the aggrieved celebration or the respondent may pick to have actually the disagreement heard by an Administrative Law Judge or in federal court. An Administrative Law Judge who finds that a participant has dedicated an inequitable housing act might impose a civil charge of approximately $10,000 for a first offense, as much as $25,000 for a second offense within a five-year period, and approximately $50,000 for a 3rd offense within a seven-year period. If the dispute goes to federal court, the Attorney General will maintain the action on behalf of the aggrieved person. The aggrieved individual may sign up with the action and might be granted sensible lawyer charges.

Private Lawsuits

An individual who believes that s/he has been the victim of housing discrimination might submit a civil action in the United States District Court or State Court within two years after the discriminatory act occurred or ended, or after a conciliation agreement was breached, whichever occurs last, even if a grievance had actually been submitted with HUD, supplied that an Administrative Law Judge has actually not yet begun a hearing. A federal judge might approve whatever relief is necessary, including the award of real and punitive damages, lawyer costs and short-term or permanent injunctions.

The U.S. Chief law officer may intervene in personal suits determined to be of public value.

Lawsuits in "Pattern or Practice" Cases

The U.S. Attorney general of the United States might initiate a civil match in any federal district court if s/he has reasonable cause to believe that an individual has actually taken part in a "pattern or practice" of housing discrimination.

In any fit brought by the Chief law officer, whether on his/her own effort or by recommendation from the Secretary of HUD, the judge may award whatever relief is suitable: a temporary or permanent injunction or other order, affordable attorney fees and expenses, money damages to any aggrieved individual and "to vindicate the public interest", a civil charge of up to $50,000 for the very first infraction and up to $100,000 for any subsequent infraction.

Read the Law: 42 United States Code § 3613, 3614