Everyday agents · Housing · United States (federal)
What does the Fair Housing Act require of a landlord?
- What applies?
- Landlords and sellers may not refuse, set different terms or advertise preferences based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or disability, and must allow reasonable accommodations for disability.
- What must I do?
- Use the same screening criteria for every applicant. Remove preferences from listings and advertisements. Handle reasonable accommodation requests for disability. Keep written records of applications and decisions.
- What happens if I do nothing?
- A person can file a complaint with HUD or sue for actual and punitive damages, and courts can award civil penalties and attorney's fees.
- Who regulates this?
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
- What is the deadline?
- A HUD complaint must be filed within 1 year of the alleged practice; a civil action within 2 years.
Sources
Read 2026-10-14 · ID agent:us:everyday:fair-housing · sha256 6a97866750f78c014e05333c37355f6e7b5d1696a701454528c09882ee366c7b
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Court decisions
not_in_register: no court decision in the register applies this rule yet. The answer rests on the cited provisions.
Machine readable: JSON. Not legal advice. Source: NovaCopilot.