LEGAL NOTES

A few years ago, an award-winning public service announcement featured a prospective renter who, while using a variety of accents, contacts a landlord about a listed property by phone. He was treated differently solely because of his perceived race or ethnic background. This announcement helped raise awareness of discrimination in housing. However, many landlords and Real Estate agents continue to violate fair housing laws, often without intending to do so.

Real Estate agents today must be careful to provide “equal professional service” to avoid legal problems. As an agent, you are required to learn and abide by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s fair housing laws to avoid fines, lawsuits and even the loss of your Real Estate license.

In the state of Nevada, perhaps the most important Real Estate law is the Fair Housing Act, which is a federal law prohibiting discrimination in housing-related transactions, including rentals, sales and purchases. This law ensures that everyone in the United States has an equal right to obtain housing.

The law, enforced by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, clearly states that it is illegal to discriminate in housing because of: race, color, national origin, sex, familial status or handicap. These are considered protected classes. You may find yourself in serious legal trouble if you discriminate in any of the following ways:

• Refuse to rent or sell housing
• Refuse to negotiate for housing
• Make housing unavailable
• Deny a dwelling
• Set different terms, conditions or privileges for sale or rental of a dwelling
• Provide different housing services or facilities
• Falsely deny that housing is available for inspection, sale or rental
• For profit, persuade owners to sell or rent (blockbusting), or
• Deny anyone access to or membership in a facility
• Prevent handicapped tenants from making reasonable modifications to a property when necessary

Many Real Estate agents are familiar with fair housing laws, yet fail to understand the extent of the law. For example, if a seller asks you to call out that her home is within walking distance of a well-known synagogue, you may not hesitate to do so. However, this may be interpreted as an attempt to steer certain religious groups to or away from the property. Similarly, you may think you are helping a family of six by discouraging their interest in small apartments, but this could be seen as discouraging them from certain properties because of their protected class (familial) status.

As an agent, you deal with fair housing issues every day, whether you realize it or not. The following tips can help you avoid making mistakes that can lead to fair housing investigations and possible disciplinary action.

o Never answer questions about protected class demographics. For example, if a couple asks you to show them homes in a predominantly Asian neighborhood, you must inform your clients that you cannot legally provide information on racial, ethnic, religious or other protected class demographics.

• Avoid answering questions about the crime rate and quality of schools in a neighborhood. The law holds that you cannot disclose crime rates, school stats or ethnic mixes of neighborhoods. If that kind of information is important to your clients, tell them where to find it but do not provide it.
• Give your clients a written statement about your commitment to fair housing as soon as you begin your working relationship with them. This statement lets clients know what you can help them with and what research they need to do on their own.
• When listing properties, avoid using words that may be perceived to represent protected classes. For example, any of these words could violate fair housing laws: mature, single, bachelor pad, family home, nearby synagogue, and low-income.
• Be sure to document any specific requests from your clients that you feel may have fair housing implications. Record both the request and your response. This will protect you in the event of a lawsuit.

In Nevada, fair housing laws are strictly enforced and the penalties for violations are severe. If an agent or broker is found guilty of discrimination, he or she may suffer financial loss, loss of license from the Nevada Real Estate Commission, and loss of reputation, as well as humiliation and embarrassment. Most discrimination cases are excluded from errors and omissions insurance policies. Therefore, it is critical to stay on the safe side of the law to avoid legal complications.

Disclaimer: The above is not intended to be, nor is it legal advice, and should not be relied upon for any reason. Even though this article maybe disseminated throughout the U.S., the material covers only Nevada law, and no other. E RealEstateExec and Exec MediaGroup, LLC expresses no opinion on any other state's law, nor about the handling of any particular legal situation. You should consult your attorney, accountant or business advisor before undertaking any action. No attorney-client relationship is created between E RealEstateExec, Exec MediaGroup, LLC and the reader.