Fair Housing Law

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Federal Fair Housing law prohibits discrimination in housing because of:

• Race or Color
• National Origin (the country in which one was born)
• Religion
• Sex
• Familial Status (whether one has children or not, whether married or not)
• Handicap/Disability

Some states include additional groups, such as “sexual orientation”. You can check your state’s protected classes here.

The most common question I hear from buyers is “Is this a good neighborhood?”

What they’re really asking about of course, is either the crime rate or the type of people living in the area. Fair Housing law prevents me, your Realtor from telling you about the neighbors if that conversation might stray into discussing one of the protected classes. Most Realtors just don’t discuss the topic at all, for fear of violating Fair Housing law. It’s rumored that the FHA sends testers out to work with Realtors, secretly checking for violations of the law. True? I don’t know but I don’t want to find out.

Besides, my idea of “nice” or “good” neighbors might vary wildly from yours. Some people find the idea of living near folks of another race, religion or sexual orientation is a big problem. Others don’t care. My best advice to buyers in this scenario is to drive through and walk through the neighborhood yourself, at different times of the day, to see what you see. Talk to your potential new neighbors. Realtors can’t ask or answer questions about the protected classes but buyers can, and should. You’d be surprised what neighbors will tell you!

As for crime, I can and will point you towards websites that list crime statistics, usually by ZIP code. I usually beg off answering the ‘crime’ question, because one person’s ’safe neighborhood’ is another person’s ‘fringe neighborhood’ is another person’s ‘hood.’

Housing not covered by the Federal Fair Housing law

• Single family housing not sold through a broker
• Owner-occupied housing of no more than 4 units (you own a duplex & rent the other side)
• Housing operated by private clubs which limit membership (co-op’s)

The first bullet above applies to For Sale By Owner homes. Selling it yourself? Discriminate all you want. I’m kidding of course, but the government can’t interfere if you want to sell your home yourself but intend to refuse to sell it to someone who practices the B’hai faith or was born in Australia.

The second & third bullet points don’t apply much in metro Phoenix. But there are duplexes and fourplexes in our Valley, and even a few co-op’s down in South Scottsdale. No one can force you to rent ther other side of your duplex to a family with 17 kids if you abhor children. Similarly, the co-op board reviews applicants who want to purchase a unit, and they make their own rules about who can move in.

For more information, see the Federal Fair Housing booklet and information about updates to Fair Housing law. Think you’ve been discriminated against in housing? The National Fair Housing Advocate Online can help. Note that all these resources apply to housing you buy. For help with rental situations, see the Arizona Residential Landlord Tenant Act.

Related Posts

• See all entries in the FAQ files here
• Click here to find online resources to check out neighborhoods, including demographics, crime statistics, HOA contact information, etc.

Heather Barr is a Realtor. She's a chow hound, a gym rat, and the only political junkie in the USA who can actually keep her political views to herself. Instead, she focuses on educating her clients about the often-confusing world of residential real estate.