A lot of LLs think the idea of Fair Housing TESTER is a myth. Not so. Here is the current ad to hire part time testers in 24 Indiana counties.

Great gig! MUCH better than Doordash! $50-200 each time.

That prospect might be earning $200 to call you or walk into your open house, even without submitting an app.

Treat EVERYONE as if they are a tester. Treat EVERYONE the SAME.

BRAD

Ad: "Stated simply, testing is typically sending two individuals with similar profiles and housing needs but with different protected class statuses, such as race, to the same available housing unit to see if they are treated differently because of their protected class status. For example, to determine if people are being discriminated against due to their race by a lender, we may pair a Black tester with a white tester and see if they are treated differently.

Testing can occur in the rental, real estate, sales, or lending markets. Without testing, most housing discrimination goes undetected. This position is so critically important to stopping housing discrimination.

We are also always in the need for more Fair Housing Testers (Secret Shoppers)! Testers are a diverse group of dependable, conscientious people, 18 years and older, who assist those working to eliminate housing discrimination in gathering information about housing practices. They are of various racial and ethnic groups, across genders, over a broad range of ages with and without disabilities.

Testers take on various roles and profiles. They do not try to trap the housing provider or cause them to discriminate. They perform a task similar to a restaurant critic. They observe and record their experiences.

The tester’s job is to gather information, much like anyone on a housing search or when seeking a loan, and to observe how a housing provider treats prospective housing tenants, mortgage applicants, or home buyers. After each test, the tester will complete a detailed account of what occurred during the test and submit to the FHCCI staff.

I am a contractor working on many rentals for clients. Upgrading them to compete in the market. I also have many rental of my own. On day while going inside and outside from a fist floor rental, I was turning the water on and off while I replace some plumbing fixtures.

A City Tester working with Housing and Section 8 wanted to look inside the unit. He was a women and a child. He was a protected class/race. He did not tell me he was with the City as a tester, but I've seen him behind the counter at the Housing Department on Van Nuys Blvd a few times.

I told him YOU CAN NOT GO INSIDE! He demanded to know why! I said, "It's because I said so". The then screamed so your not letting a family of color look at this unit. I replied, "if that's they way you look at it"!

The next day the owner of this property, a partner in other buildings and the sole owner of this property was summoned to a Housing Hearing with the General Manager for suspected racism. The owner was pissed off at me. I replied, "Do you want me to follow the law or not"?

At at the meeting/hearing I showed up, the offender. They asked me why I did not show a nice family of a protected class this apartment.

So told them I had several legal reasons, would they like to hear them all! So I began,

1. This was a work zone. As a contractor I can not allow people into a construction area where there are dangers that could harm or kill someone. Such as an Open electrical energized panel.

2. There are laws on who may show a rental. It has to be and owner or:

a) a licensed agent/broker

b) A direct employee of the owner.

c) A resident manager.

I'm none of those so I can't show a rental to anyone. I'm a contactor hired to make repairs and upgrades and do not have any ownership in this property.

Not long ago I got a call from a man who had a very, very heavy foreign accent, I couldn't really tell what accent it was, but he wasn't all that easy to understand. I had my suspicions that he might be a tester, as the type of questions he was asking.

This place was legitimately rented to somebody several days before, and I could tell he was questioning that. Like I wasn't renting to him because of his other qualifications, which were not perfect. So he asked to wait while he talked to someone else there, putting me on hold . By the time he got back he must've forgotten he was foreign as he totally lost that accent.

I rarely answer the phone, and I'm thinking I'm going to be much more careful about that in the future. However, I also wonder if these testers leave a phone message, and you don't call them back, and for whatever reason they find it hasn't been rented yet if they can make a point of this.

It’s real and I’ve had them….one of mine was a “representative “ for a tenant who had autism. No problem here, I would be happy to have him as long as he met our criteria. I even got a partial application but they never followed up with key info such as income verification, even though I asked for it twice….ultimately I was unable to complete the process due to lack if info…so I informed them he was on hold until I got all info…which I never did.

"I also wonder if these testers leave a phone message, and you don't call them back, and for whatever reason they find it hasn't been rented yet if they can make a point of this."

Being a secret shopper for years, I might do better selling out and working part time as a TESTER. Look out LL's, look out!

hahahahaha ;)

Melinda,

The questions and actions of testers is probably normal and the same as anyone else.

For a good report the two or more prospects must present themselves and ask the same questions.

Their objective is to see if you treat them differently even tho they had the same info.

Simple example: did you hand an application to each person at your open house or just the non-minority people?

Discrimination can be very subtle and you might not realize you are doing it.

Pretty sure I've had testers many times. I can still remember as the scenarios were so off. A few purposely disqualified themselves so as to not end up filling out an application, even when offered. Back in the day, (we're talking 30 years ago), after getting some information, I showed many more prospects than I do now. We hosted planty of open houses.I answered my phone back then, but not now.

One set of testers I distinctly remember was a couple; she was blind. I escourted them both through the unit, with him leading her. I'm big on safety and was especially concerned for her safety if he wasn't around; there are steps everywhere inside and out of the unit, and an unattached garage that leads to an alley. left the choice up to them and said nothing. He said they were interested. As I pulled out an application and asked "do you have any questions before you fill out the application?" he replied, "Is it okay if I practice playing my horn here?" I asked how loud, how often, times of day and evening. Our lease has a non-disturbance clause at any hour. I showed him the lease and clause, and he decided not to fill out an application.

We've had them - bi-racial couples, people of ethic groups that were in the minority locally, elderly people. They always screen beautifully, are polite, and any kids they bring along are well-behaved.

We treat everyone the same, but get so annoyed at the waste of our time, once it becomes evident to us that they are testers (they usually ask about the ethnic/racial/age group makeup of the neighborhood as the first trip-them-up question, and we always reply that we don't live there and could not really say, but that they could drive around on a nice Saturday and see if they can answer that for themselves).

I had a minority married couple submit a pair of applications. They loved the house. FICO scores both over 700, something I never see. They had the same last name, spelling it differently, though the pronunciation was the same. Big red flag, right? People alter their names to evade collectors. Almost put these apps in the trash but for those credit scores. So I called, and called, and called. She finally called me back obviously annoyed that I was ringing their phones off the hook. They had decided to stay put, their current landlord wasn't so bad after all.

Makes me wonder if I didn't have a tester the other day. Supposed military guy, apt he listed had no record of him. When I called his work, the "boss" immediately picked up and was "too" cooperative.

When the guy showed up to look at the apt, he didn't look inside the cabinets, the frig etc. Barely looked at the place.

Yes they are allowed to lie. We cannot deny them for lying about not being a tester on the app but then again they are not planning on renting your place.

If you have reviewed your ads, apps, leases, policies, and methods you should not fear testers.

Never throw away an app. You must keep them for two years to prove your innocence if challenged.

We have our local Director speak to our group each year.

When someone applies with a service animal we pass their information to our local Director and let her decide. It’s usually fake. She is frustrated by all the fakes because it makes it harder for the real people who have a true need.

It is so dog gone easy to mess this up. You might think you are not but so many out there do make small mistakes that can come back to haunt you.

One place that I find so many landlords mess up is the setting of standards. Where you should indeed have a written criteria that you can reference for say your Apartment, that same standard doesn't have to be the same for a different SFH. But what happens when that lead called about the Apt and you wisely try to upsell them to that SFH with a different standard. You might not have done anything wrong in the fair housing world - but with two separate standards on two separate places, you could have confused someone just enough for them to file a claim.

That claim is going to cost you significantly even if you didn't do anything wrong. The legal fees alone can be upwards of five figures. So where ever your units are at know what the standards are and what screening tools you can use. Use a system consistently and feel free to ensure your leads know that you use system that measures specific performance predictors. When some volunteers extra data acknowledge it but make sure they know that due to fair housing requirements - you can't vary your system.

Sid's Philosophy on How Never To Run Afoul of Testers.

Step 1 - Don't take the test. This is a two step process:

1) All calls go to voicemail. Everyone gets the same voice message that tells them what to do if they want a tour: Go to our website and fill out the pre-screening form.

2) Testers don't want to fill out my forms. Thus, I never get contacted by testers.

Done.

Step 2 - Crack open a cold one.

Notice: nowhere in there did I exert any effort or waste any time... well, okay, I did exert effort to crack open a cold one, but that is never wasted effort!

It doesn't really take much energy or thought to stay ahead of Govt bureaucrats. They have a manual that tells them what to do. Don't follow their manual.

Example 1: Most land lords answer the phone. I don't answer the phone. They don't know how to handle that. There is no "secondary protocol" for someone who just flat out refuses to answer the phone.

Example 2: Most land lords have in-person showings where they chit chat with leads, potentially getting into trouble if they say the wrong thing or forget to do something most folks consider innocuous, but which a Govt tester will take as flagrant discrimination. Forgetting to hand someone an application. Running out of applications. Not smiling enough. Spending 1 minute 30 seconds chit chatting with one person but only 50 seconds chit chatting with another. All innocent things, but ripe for Govt testers to claim as illegal acts. The solution is simple: don't have in-person showing and don't chit chat. Again, the Govt testers have no secondary protocol to handle land lords who don't do business "normally."

I've learned when dealing with the Govt the answer is simple: Don't be normal. Be weird. Do something their step by step manual isn't set up to handle. They don't know how to handle someone who thinks outside the box. So they skip you and go bust the "normal" land lord who answers their phone and mistakenly uses the wrong preferred pronouns or deadnames someone. If you don't know what those last two things are, look them up online. People are losing their jobs over such things.

Bottom line: Stop answering your phone. That'll fix 95% of the issue.

I have no need to avoid the test since I'd have no problem passing it. This is a "no big deal" to me. If I get a tester now and then in the sea of people interested, so be it.

I'm not worried about an IRS audit because I follow the rules. I'm not worried about a tester because I don't discriminate.

Also, if you think you can avoid testers by not answering the phone or because you require paperwork, I think you are mistaken... They WANT to catch you making mistakes IN WRITING. They are happy to fill out paperwork -- because then the two testers can fill it out identically and see if you treat them differently once you see their race or gender or whatever else they are testing for.

Seems like a lot of avoidance for something that shouldn't be a big deal. It's not a difficult "test", people.

Also, what happened to all of you people saying "if you aren't committing a crime, then you don't have to worry about the police"? Lots of you seem real big on the "nothing to hide" argument until the authorities are looking at you, eh?

Ever ask a man in a wheelchair to walk up steps to check out a rental located upstairs - when there is no elevator? I would think it sorta sounds crazy to most folks to even suggest that - maybe even offensive if you do such a thing.

But it can be EQUALLY offensive if you don't offer them an opportunity for them to turn it down. Fair Housing can be more complicated than most people think it is. I would encourage EVERYONE to get additional training.

I once sat in on a Fair Housing Training session where 80% of the attendees were social workers. What they perceive as Fair Housing Law violations and that from myself were night and day. The angle was different, and in most cases it wasn't blatant or serious - but then there were some cases that were sickening.

I have another example. I have rental homes in three counties currently. I sold a larger place that I had ranked very high on google when I owned it. I still routinely get calls asking if I have any openings in this location even after I have sold it. I let the folks know that it is sold. Sometimes a lead will ask me a follow up if I have other places near by that. NOW WHAT DOES NEAR BY THAT ONE MEAN? Can it have more than one meaning?

Do you always have the same amount of time to tackle every call in the same manner? I know sometimes if I am expecting an important call, I might rush someone off the phone faster than someone else. I do it based on me needing to take the next call and knowing I probably am not making money on this call. But what the person on the other end of the phone line think? Do I know if the person I rushed off the phone isn't a protected class? For all that I know it could have be Bill Gates (but probably not). That expedited call can turn out to be costly and you will not even know it - not for another month anyway.

The only way to absolutely sure you have everything covered is tough in a woke society looking for misjustice. Training will not hurt you and it opened up my eyes to what case workers were seeing. What they describe is not to flattering and in many cases rather outright.

I can't believe I'm the first to suggest this but ...

Answer the ad, apply to become a tester. I bet they have a seminar, scripts, etc. and you'll get a list of potential offenders.

TO RAY N PA

you raise a good point about lack of SSA or TIN

all proposed occupants must apply , clear and sign lease

This happens more often than people expect.

There are a wide variety of service providers for credit checking services. The one I use is located in San Diego but you might want to find other maybe in Texas or other place where legal migration is common.

The number of folks who enter the US legally but are not US Citizens every year is in the tens of millions. If you come here to work - again legally, you have to have a TIN. I use Credit Link Corp but I absolutely know there are others

I made a couple of calls and sure enough the Mr Landlord vendor that does credit check also accepts TIN instead of SSN if that situation exist. The person even made it sound like Daaaahhhhh - you should know this.

OK,...TO CIRCLE BACK

We have a particular unit that seems to attract the testers. We’ve had testers at least twice, maybe 3 times on it. The unit is a first floor, 2 bedroom unit. The testers are always a son/daughter looking for a place for their mother in a wheelchair. Can they put in a ramp, etc.?

"Black woman and two elementary children supposedly coming from an area of the state where one would not expect anyone of color coming from."

Um, that is the weirdest thing I've seen in a while...

So, you believe that there are areas of your state where they just don't have people who are black??

Wow! Great discussion.

Housing discrimination used to be absolutely horrible. It's getting better because of efforts by such agencies.

Education is crucial. Make the effort to get official Fair Housing training. Most offices will offer it or make the connection for you. They LOVE it when LLs are interested.

Ask the office to review your application and ads for correction. Get on their side of this issue.

The interpretation of the laws by those in authority is not logical to a DIY landlord. Common sense is not part of the decision making by those who will fine you.

You MUST learn how they think in order to comply. It's not hard.

This is not a slam on the good people working to protect the rights of others. This is a reminder that just because you are a smart LL does not mean you understand the intricacies of government or as Ray put it - Woke people searching for injustices.

Learn the game, play by the rules. It's like building inspectors - learn their language and thinking so you can comply. Never argue with them, just work to get along because THEY hold the power.

Treat everyone the same and be able to prove it if challenged.

I prefer using an option agreement rather than a rental agreement and treat everyone the same, all parties should be courteous consistent

An option is a unilateral contract and it is a contract for purchase!

Please don't read this wrong. I have been a landlord for more than 45 years and am currently. I am finding with the tax law and with the regional landlord-tenant laws. Doing a contract for option, and giving someone the promise of a property as an owner is very very rewarding and both the occupant and the optionor/seller are both winners.

This contract, because it is contract for the purchase of the property allows the occupant to be in the property, and does allow more than your typical landlord contract!

I'm not a attorney and I don't play one on TV, but I will say that I have one property in my home city that I have option for different parties. And it does not have debt service. And instead of going to a bank when they break up or leave, it reverts back to me!

After that I look at the prices and I see all my Lord, the prices have escalated once again!!

You will up your income, I did mine,

To everyone's success,

Steve

Steve: Isn't that option agreement considered to be a land contract basically? Maybe it varies by state. Here, I think that would be the case. And, if that is the case, then you can't just evict for non-payment. You'd have to foreclose. Which is a very different process.

I have seen people here suggest normal rental agreements and then a 2ND agreement that is an option to purchase -- so that they can still evict under the rental agreement if necessary. But that doesn't seem to be what you were suggesting, right?