CityVision Services, Inc. has recently filed a number of complaints with HUD under the Fair Housing Act. Those I am familiar with all follow the same pattern. Someone from CityVision calls an apartment complex asking about pet deposit policies and then mentions a therapy animal. The manager or leasing agent makes the mistake of saying all animals require a pet deposit. No one ever comes to the complex or makes a rental application, but CityVision files a Fair Housing complaint on its own behalf as a “tester.” The apartment owners I’ve spoken with were all located in East Texas, but the extent of this particular effort by CityVision Services is impossible to tell because HUD complaints are not public. More
FHA Policies
Disparate Impact – Will it now apply to disability discrimination under the FHA?
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA FHA General, Apartments, Condominiums, FHA, Landlord-tenant, Multi-Family, Policies and Procedures FHA ADA Tags: Apartments, Condominiums, disparate impact, FHA Litigation, FHA Policies, private lawsuits
On June 25 the Supreme Court held that FHA discrimination claims can be based on disparate impact. Texas Dep’t of Hous. & Cmty. Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., 2015 WL 2473449, at *9 (U.S. June 25, 2015). At first blush this doesn’t seem to have much to do with accessibility claims. When we talk about the policies that discriminate against those with disabilities we usually look at 42 U.S.C. Section 3604(f)(3)(B), which requires reasonable accommodation; that is, exceptions to a policy because the policy has a disproportionate impact on those with disabilities. However, Inclusive Communities Project may have its own disparate impact on claims of disability discrimination. More
Risky business – the FHA forbids discrimination based on perceived risk.
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, FHA, FHA Insurance, Landlord-tenant Tags: FHA Litigation, FHA Policies
You can’t turn down or evict a handicapped* tenant because renting to him would increase your risk of liability. That is one of the important lessons from the Second Circuit’s June 2 decision in Rodriguez v. Vill. Green Realty, Inc., 2015 WL 3461554, at *15 (2d Cir. June 2, 2015). If a tenant or prospective tenant is willing to accept some risk caused by his or her handicap the landlord doesn’t get to decide he shouldn’t. More
ADA and FHA Policies – One size does not fit all.
By richardhunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA FHA General, Policies and Procedures FHA ADA, Reasonable accommodation Tags: ADA Policies, assistance animals, FHA Policies, private lawsuits, restaurants, retail, service animals