One question that has been popping up recently is how pet limits apply to assistance animals.  As I have written about before, pet limits in the form of breed and/or weight restrictions do not apply to assistance animals (i.e., you cannot deny a resident’s assistance animal because he is a German Shepherd or otherwise on your restricted breeds list).  The logic behind these rules is that assistance animals are not viewed necessarily as “pets,”…

In keeping with a recent blog post, and in order to emphasize the importance of taking the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) seriously, I wanted to introduce a relatively recent HUD charge levied against a property in Denver to illustrate and substantiate HUD’s active concern with FHAA compliance issues.  A Denver, Colorado property was charged this past month with failing to make its property handicap accessible.  Specifically, the property was accused of large portions…

With the government shutdown now surpassing a month, and the future still relatively uncertain, the functioning of HUD and many other federal organizations has reached a standstill.  A government shutdown not only impacts federal workers and government employees, it also has a very real impact on landlords and tenants. You may be thinking, why are we talking about politics in a Fair Housing blog?    As it turns out, the government shutdown has a direct impact…

Of all the potential violations of fair housing law, the one that gives me the most heartburn—and occasionally wakes me up at night in a cold sweat—is a violation of the design and construction guidelines of the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA).  Why am I so worried about that particular violation?  Well, because—as I have written about before—the potential liability for housing providers from a design and construction violation can be catastrophic. Which is…

Looking at the Fair Housing Act from today’s perspective, it seems like simple common sense—of course we don’t want to be discriminatory in our housing practices.  So why is the 50th birthday of the FHA such a big deal?  In order celebrate the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, I thought I would take a look back at both the immediate context surrounding the enactment of this legislation, as well as the history…

Ok, so I know I have written about this several times before.  But apparently some people still haven’t gotten the message.  So, one more time for the record—as a landlord, you cannot restrict the number of children at your property!  Just don’t do it! This issue hit my radar after I saw a recent Charge of Discrimination from The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).   So what was the problem?  Well, apparently there…

It’s summertime and everyone is headed to the pool – can my assistance animal join me?  Well, before I can answer that, I have a couple of questions for you:  1) is your pool private or is it open to the public; and 2) do you have a service or emotional support animal? So to begin, let’s tackle the scenarios regarding a pool that is open to the public. As I have discussed at length…