HOW TO CREATE THE PERFECT TENANT CRITERIA (WITHOUT VIOLATING FAIR HOUSING LAWS)
As a landlord, it is your legal obligation to apply the same requirements to everyone who applies for a rental in your properties. If you do not, you have violated the Fair Housing Act and opened yourself up to a possible lawsuit.
HOW TO AVOID A DISCRIMINATION CHARGE The first step in avoiding a Fair Housing Act discrimination claim against you is to establish a specific rental criteria for prospective tenants. You should be prepared to give each applicant a written document outlining exactly what your conditions are. These criteria should also appear in your advertising to proactively weed out bad prospects. While you want to eliminate applicants that do not meet your criteria, being overly restrictive can cause you to overlook appropriate candidates or block you from filling vacancies. Some criteria that could be too rigid are a too-high credit score requirement, a blanket criminal record ban, or a stringent rent-to-income ratio range. For instance, it might be better to set an acceptable credit score range rather than a minimum credit score. It is historically true that older applicants are more likely to have higher credit scores than much younger applicants. More mature people have had more time to build a positive credit history while younger applicants are just beginning to establish their credit profile. This is one reason that you should not judge a person merely by their score. You need to consider their payment history, and the other invaluable factors included in AAOA’s credit and background checks so as not to miss out on a good tenant.
The Fair Housing Act (FHA) shields people from discrimination when they are renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance or engaging in other housing- related activities. This protection is administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and covers most dwellings, including private, public and federally funded housing. If an applicant believes that they were unfairly discriminated against when they were looking for a rental home, they can easily file a complaint with HUD. What is the Fair Housing Act?
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