At the tail end of Roy's post about enforcing leases, a discussion started regarding fair housing and enforcing lease clauses case by case.

I think it's an important discussion to be had, so I'm posting it here so it doesn't get buried in that thread.

I'm interested in hearing people's thoughts on it.

For me, I think it's yes and no.

If your treating 2 people that each live on one half of a duplex differently for late fees, that could be seen as fair housing discrimination. (Not sure how it would work as far as HOW you're discrimination based on a protected Class.) but things like late fees need to be enforced equally across the board.

In that same duplex, if you have a lease clause about out of operation vehicles, I don't see how you could be violating any fair housing if tenant A has a vehicle under a tarp, out of the way, in the back of the house that doesn't cause any problems vs tenant B who has a project vehicle up on jacks ripped apart in the front yard. I say you're within your right to enforce that lease clause on tenant B to take care of the eyesore mess without being concerned with violations of fair housing. Regardless of who that person is.

Even more so with houses in different areas of town or different towns altogether for that matter. Different locations where the tenants have no clue about how you handle things case by case regarding enforcement at other buildings.

ALSO.... and this is a big one.

Are you running different leases for different types of buildings?

My guess is: No, you're not.

So enforcement of some things on single family homes is enforced totally different than they are at multi unit buildings.

A lot of this stuff actually does fall back to case by case once you break it down and how you break it down. Certain aspects need to be handled the same way and some don't.

Well, since all of my tenants belong to the same race, it would be hard to claim that I was favoring one over the other.

I think you CAN discriminate between tenants in how you choose to enforce the lease, even if they're living in the same duplex.

Say Joe Resident has been living there for 5 years, always paid his rent on time, took care of the place beautifully, and then came up short one month because his car broke down, his paycheck was cut because of the government shut-down, and he spent two days in the hospital with kidney stones. He notified you ahead of time that he wouldn't be able to pay on time, but he's planning to pay in two weeks when he gets back pay for the shut-down and his income tax refund arrives.

Then on the other side of the duplex is Harry Hammered, who comes home drunk every weekend, plays music too loudly, complains all the time about minor maintenance needs and is chronically 2-3 days late with the rent. You've had to work out payment plans with him multiple times. Now he's two weeks late.

Robin, there you have another situation too. A good long term tenant deserve a little flexibility, even in the same unit. A bad tenant deserve zero.

So I think the more we dive into this, it absolutely is case by case.

Great topic, NE! Here's a questuin I have that piggy backs off it.

How many land lords on this board--regardless of your opinions on how a lease should be enforced--have actually had a fair housing complaint filed against them? Notice, I did not ask has a tenant/applicant THREATENED to file a complaint...I'm talking about the officials actually sent you a letter that dragged you into court?

I will be interested to hear if anyone has had this happen. I never have. Been in the biz 13 years. My guess is most if not all of us have never heard one peep from fair housing folks. Due to limited resources, my guess is they do like the IRS does with tax audits and focus mainly on "big boy" operators (1000+ units).

Exactly Sid, kind of like the RRP thing.

Good question Sid. The couple of fair housing cases I've read about online, the landlord did something pretty dumb...asking an applicant "what country are you from?", or else total cluelessness about familial/children's rights.

Jeffrey, was that someone who moved into the property as an unauthorized occupant or as a screened addition to the lease?

One thing I can add to Jeffrey's post that I have heard him say multiple times during presentations is that if you drop the price on a unit that you have for rent from say $700-$650, you have to call back all the people that were interested in that property and let them know the price has dropped.

Now I want to know who here does that?

Because I can guarantee you 99% of the people on this board do not do that at all and 100% of the people that are just flying by the seat of their pants out in the real world don't do that at all or would even think to.

So if fair housing can break down to that fine of a detail regarding violations, we should all be absolutely terrified of violating fair housing. Those are some major eggshells to walk on. Because that example is scary. Especially if you operate under the notion that you have to call back people you disqualified at the higher rent or who disqualified themselves because they didn't like something about the unit.

I agree, Mr. Jeffrey [VA]

We actually do have two different leases, one for sfhs and another for multis.

Our case by case issues dont just involve types of renters. They also involve neighborhood class- one or two houses that are in a different area than the others. Sometimes we do treat a little more leniently because they are difficult to rent and keep rented. If it's not rented, it's a huge headache. Even rented, there's a lot more trouble and most of the time it isn't the renter. Not to say there is no control or adherence to the lease, it's just relaxed and dependent on the renters attitude.

I don't think it's possible to leave reason out of it. If a renter is trying to be proactive and give me a heads-up as to their situation and another avoids me like the plague once rent is due, I'd be stupid to treat them the same.

Amy brings up 2 excellent points and I can add a 3rd to it.

She says class of neighborhood/unit. An A grade unit vs C-D unit. Also the difficulty of renting one apartment over another changes your tolerance level of lease enforcement.

NE, the point I was making was that many landlords think that fair housing accusations only occur with rental "applicants" who feel that they were discriminated against. The accusations I faced was done far after the screening process. They involved concerns by actual authorized residents, not about the screening process, but with other circumstances that took place AFTER move-in, and months into the rental relationship and again even toward the end of the rental relationship.

In All Due Respect, (lets get that out of the way )

Some here, are held to Higher Standards.

Higher Standards, Definition:

A level of Quality or Achievement,

(including Title or Position in life)

used for judging someone or something.

In other words, some people make Bigger Targets.

I got a phone call from a housing tester. I know it was a tester because the call came in on our FAX line (yes, we have one of those) -- and our fax line is only listed with our Secretary of State's office.

When we first bought our building, we had an inherited tenant who was never happy. The previous owner had put them into a unit without a security deposit -- they were supposed to "fix up" the unit themselves as their SD. So there were many minor issues that needed to be addressed. As my husband was there one day installing a new over the stove microwave, the female tenant was literally giving him a running verbal list of everything that was wrong with the unit. (My husband did not know yet to say "put it in writing".) The tenant became very angry a month later when the bathroom fan was not fixed and "mold" was growing in the bathroom and we were putting her children at risk. We fixed the fan, and THEN gave her a notice that we were not going to renew her lease. She was furious.

When the call came in, I answered the phone attached to the fax machine. A sweet voice asked if we were going to have any openings. I said that we had one coming open but that this unit needed a lot of rehabbing and that I did not know when it would be ready to rent. I told her to watch for Craigslist because we would advertise there when the unit was ready. Never heard back.

I have a small multi, and the tenants all know each other and compare notes. You bet we treat everyone the same, even after renting. We are quick to enforce lease violations, and go by the letter of the law. Once you have your forms and procedures established, it is not hard.

"if you drop the price on a unit that you have for rent from say $700-$650, you have to call back all the people that were interested in that property and let them know the price has dropped."

S I d, this is another one of those topics where quick tips shared out of context of the live teaching setting can be misunderstood. In regard to the quote you referenced, I was sharing a recommended Fair Housing Practice to help avoid potential accusations, not sharing a legal requirement. And it was not given as a response to ALL who simply inquired or indicated that they were interested, it was suggested to do with the ones who had made it through your pre-screening and you had quoted them a higher price but they declined to rent from you.

Yes, Jeffrey, thank you for clarifying....whew.... I am signed up for the Convention and eagerly looking forward to hearing "the rest of the story" on this adn other matters.

Jeffrey - thanks for that info.

Wish I could make the conference, but I'll be elsewhere.

Any chance you could offer the Fair Housing piece as a webinar? :)

I had a major Fair Housing Case against me back in 1991. They said that I discriminated against "one type of Class of applicants", due to race. The neighborhood where my rental apartment house was located was called "Korea-town" a melting pot of every race.

I had made sure that each of my apartment properties had a mixture of different races in each of the buildings. The tenants would have preferred each property to have only the same race, they didn't like living in a mixed property because they were scared of the "unknown".

So in this 8 unit building I had (for example) "green", "yellow", "orange" and "blue" tenants. My current applicants for a vacant unit were close neck an neck in qualifications, so I made a choice to give the vacant unit to a "purple" applicant adding to my buildings diversity.

This meant I turned down a qualified "green" applicant, I had discriminated based on race. It was decided that even though I had other building with of the "race" I had discriminated against, it was a CASE BY CASE BY UNIT NOT BUILDINGS OR OTHER TENANCY'S. So in a hearing I had other tenants testify that they were displease that I rented to a rainbow of tenants, but after time the other tenants became "friends" and their children would play together after school. I had exposed them to other cultures living in my buildings.

Discrimination at filling a new unit is a well known factor, but the last couple of years I have been seeing a lot a handicapped discrimination complaints from existing tenants over suddenly declared support animals that once were pets and especially over handicapped parking spaces.

I've heard accusations of discrimination when trying to get a tenant out.

As a Realtor I am required to take CE courses annually to keep my license active and Fair Housing is always on the menu.

On the original post " do you enforce" I posted that I do uniformly enforce on the normal late rent, late fees, no smoking, etc. However, I will work with a tenant if they have a major life event. I'm not concerned about the inconsistency since I can document a history of working with various tenants if anyone ever complained about selective practices.

And according to my teachings that is acceptable. The situation does not have to be identical provided I am able to demonstrate that based upon extenuating circumstances I will be flexible.

Based on the classes I do have a formal document listing our policies which includes everything from income and credit score requirements, to rules and regs, to insurance requirements, alarm codes, pet addendums, etc.. That document is attached to every application so they know upfront and I don't have to worry about forgetting anything.

The longer I have been in this business more I value my sanity. It is absolutely so easy to treat a PITA differently than everyone else. I really go out of my way to train tenants. My undergrad is in Workforce Education and Development..........but some folks simply refuse to modify bad behaviors. These folks need to be asked to leave.

My view of fair housing - as long as you are consistent in how you deal with the PITA, I don't believe you should get in trouble. I do agree if what both Jeffery and RB on how what we can do can unnecessarily attract the perception of being unfair.

Case in point, I am in the snow belt. Between Jan and Feb, its tough to fill a place a using standard screening methods for specific units. In the past, I elected to lower that standard in these two months in order to fill these units....and I got the corresponding results.

Instead I elect to do a move in special but base that special on approved credit score - I offer a reduced security deposit. After learning at the LL boot camp this past year, I have elected not to even do that.

as always the best practice is to "toss 'em around" on the way in. complete and legible applications and full credit reports at their expense for each adult. check ALL info for BS. be sure you confirm that the "reference" they provide is the ACTUAL property owner or manager. i've had people use their friends at work and their boyfriend.

second best practice is to have some rules of the road which means YOUR rules.

1. only month to month. raise rent when you want, terminate when you want

2. rent due first late second

3. require copy of ID

4. require proof of paid rent for six months...check copies are preferred. look at the date they wrote the ck. IF THEY DON'T HAVE A CHECKING ACCOUNT DENY THEM. there's a reason for that.

5. FULL Deposits prior to keys

6. renters insurance naming you as an additional insured

7. inspect regularly and let the roaches know they need to straighten up or be gone.

8. no 'prepaid' cell phone accounts...they are a sure sign of irresponsible.

9. if they say they are "cash customers" think real hard about them...

you want the commonest folks you can find that have regular jobs, regular bank accounts and can prove they are good citizens as regards paying their bills.

as for fair housing claims...ALL MEMO'S YOU DELIVER ARE WRITTEN FOR THE NEXT GUY THAT READS IT. A JUDGE, HUD, TENAT RIGHTS LAWYER...WHOEVER. if you have to bite your tongue to be polite after they threaten you, BE POLITE AND MAKE THE MEMO ABOUT THEIR CONTRACT BREACH...

I believe Jeffery is saying that we may be screwing up unintentionally and not just at move in.

The more I think about it, I know I don't treat everyone the same way fr doing the same thing. Last week I had a tenant of 7 years bounce a check. First time ever and he is very low maintenance as a tenant. I could get hard nose with the guy and give him a standard 5 day notice.

Orit, I think it's nationally that you can't simply deny because of an arrest record or conviction record.

You have to determine, possibly prove if needed, that their crime poses a threat to the building.

Now if that doesn't leave things open to speculation, I don't know what does.

Well Orit, there's always some discrimination.

Several years ago, our City Sewerage & Water Board called me in about a discrepancy in my LLC billing. When I got to this meeting and was told to sit down at a table with some serious-looking employees of assorted departments, I obliged. I made myself comfortable and proceeded to take out my ledger of all things Rental, including some serious notes about recent Sewerage & Water Board dealings. The gentleman in charge, he was the best dressed, so I assumed he was in charge, began my "trial" with his formal accusation and I asked him for an exact date this whatever it was took place and immediately started flipping through my very detailed notebook that went back years, and he FLIPPED HIS WIG! He shouted "No way. This meeting is over!" This lady has handwritten notes that weren't just written yesterday.

We can't win. Case closed. Sorry, madam, for wasting your time." I thanked him and I left and went home with my very precious notebook.