Recovering alcoholics protected under Fair Housing laws

It’s easy to make a decision on a tenant applicant whose background check turns up a recent drug-related conviction. But what about an applicant who admits to being a recovering alcoholic, or whose tenant screening report finds a court-ordered and completed drug addiction rehabilitation program?  Does such a red flag constitute grounds for denying the person’s rental application? 

One might think so, but the answer is no, and landlords must be careful to not go against Fair Housing Laws in this instance. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on a disability, which is defined as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits at least one major life activity. This definition covers people recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction.

Tenant applicants who have successfully completed a drug treatment program (and can prove it) are protected under the disability provisions of the Fair Housing Act. This means that a landlord cannot refuse to rent to someone solely because of a history of drug addiction. 

If you’re dealing with a criminal conviction, especially a relatively recent one, then you are within your rights to deny the applicant. But be sure your decision doesn’t go against Fair Housing law and unfairly deny someone who is doing their best to get their life back together.

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Social media background checks more trouble than they’re worth

Most landlords use traditional methods to perform background checks on prospective tenants, but some are branching out to social media outlets to do some investigative work of their own. While it may be tempting to log on to Facebook and Twitter and try to see what you can find out about a would-be tenant’s lifestyle and personality, the social media background check tactic brings with it a host of potential legal issues if what you find becomes the reason you decline to rent the property to that person.

Fair Housing laws are very clear about the fact that it is illegal to deny housing to anyone based on race, color, national origin, religion, gender, familial status and disability. These are, by and large, well outside the realm of the typical rental application, so finding out and exhibiting some bias against a person based on what you find out through Facebook could lead to some serious legal ramifications. Another potential problem is that sometimes the wrong person’s profile is mistaken for the applicant in question. There are many, many duplicate names out there, and it can be difficult to ascertain whether you’ve got the right John Doe’s Facebook page.

The better idea is to stick with a professional tenant screening service, a company with a proven reputation for being thorough and following the letter of every law. Paying someone for fact-checked reports on an applicant’s credit, criminal record and employment is a far better use of your time than surfing the internet and potentially finding something that’s either false or could get you in trouble.  

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Service animals are an important exception to the “No pets” rule

Any intelligent landlord who’s been around the tenant block a few times understands the importance of treading lightly when it comes to allowing any and all pets to live in one’s rental property. It’s not discriminatory to prohibit pets of a certain kind – or all kinds – from living on your property, as “cat owners” or “dog owners” are not a protected class. There is, however, one very important exception to this rule, and that is the service animal.

Service animals and their owners are protected by the federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits housing providers from discriminating against applicants or tenants because of a disability. The law requires owners and landlords to make reasonable accommodations to allow those with disabilities equal opportunity to live there. This includes adjusting rules or policies, such as allowing dogs on the premises, or increasing the usual weight limit for a pet for a person who requires the assistance of an animal for a disability-related need.

Having said that, it’s important to note that a tenant with a service animal doesn’t get a free pass, exempt from all of the rules other tenants must follow. For example, they must keep their animal under control at all times and the animal must not become a nuisance or a threat to other tenants or neighbors.

The best way to handle such a situation is to keep lines of communication open with the tenant, and to review the law to make sure you are and remain in compliance.

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Avoid discrimination traps when advertising rental property

Landlords are very careful to follow the letter of the law when it comes to tenant screening and deciding who to accept as a tenant. Nobody wants to be accused of being in violation of Fair Housing laws for rejecting a particular tenant applicant.

But adhering to the Fair Housing Act begins even before the selection process. It begins with the way you advertise the rental property and market it to potential tenants. The Fair Housing Act states that it’s unlawful to publish any advertisement for the sale or rental of a home that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination against people who are covered by what are seen as the seven protected classes:  race, color, national origin, religion, gender, disability, and familial status (whether or not you have a child under 18 living with you). 

The biggest trap landlords fall into with regards to advertising rental property is that they go one step beyond describing the unit and also describe the type of tenant they think would be best suitable for the property. Most landlords do this to be helpful, regarding it as a smart marketing tactic to market the property to the type of person you think would be the best fit. But describing a one-bedroom apartment as being “ideal for a single person” places your ad on the non-compliance list for making yourself appear to be discriminating against families.

The best way to avoid any discrimination claims against you is to stick with a straight description of the rental property, highlighting its best features.

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Presence of lead-based paint must ALWAYS be exposed

Another property management company has come under fire for allegedly not disclosing to tenants the presence of and/or their potential exposure to lead-based paint. CRM Rental Management in upstate New York is facing $140,000 in potential fines from the Environmental Protection Agency for 43 separate instances that took place across four buildings that the company manages.

EPA regulations require real estate management companies and property owners who sell or rent housing built before 1978 to provide renters or buyers with a form that contains a warning about the dangers of lead-based paint and discloses information about its presence. Tenants or buyers must then verify that they received the required warnings.

It’s a standard notice that is given to tenants and included with the rental agreement paperwork. It must be signed or initialed by the tenant, typically done at the same time they are signing the lease. Following the letter of this law can save landlords and property managers huge fines and legal troubles. But more importantly, it can save the health and lives of tenants, particularly children, who are most susceptible to lead poisoning. There’s simply no plausible explanation or reasonable excuse for not following the law here.

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Delegate smaller landlord duties so you can focus your priority on profits

Many landlords, particularly accidental landlords, think they should do everything about the business themselves. They think that because they are capable of doing it, they should be the ones to market the property, interview applicants, perform tenant screening, get the lease signed, and take care of any maintenance issues or problems that arise with tenants and/or the property. That’s a long list of chores for someone who might have another job (plus a family, private life and home of their own!).

It’s understandable that you want to save as much money as you can by not hiring someone else to do what you can do yourself. After all, you’re in this business to make money, so you want to position your business endeavor to be as profitable as possible, and that means saving money, not spending it.

But keep in mind that your time is valuable too, and when your schedule becomes jammed with an endless “to do” list, you become your business’s own bottleneck, impeding the flow of work — and, therefore, also the flow of money — simply because there’s too much to do and only one person to do it.

As the head of your business, your most important job is to delegate. You should spend your time doing only what will increase profits. That includes shaping the business’s future and bringing in more money. If you’re spending valuable time fixing leaky faucets and making photocopies of signed leases, then you’re not spending all your time increasing profits. Don’t short-change yourself:  Hire qualified people who can help you with maintenance and repair issues, keep track of paperwork, and conduct background checks and credit checks on tenant applicants. Your ‘to do’ list will thank you!

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Landlords, increase your luck by utilizing a professional tenant screening service

Every landlord seems to have a horror story of a problem tenant who passed the tenant screening process with flying colors but still managed to be habitually late with the monthly rental payment, or destroyed the rental property, or disrespected the neighbors. Does this mean tenant screening isn’t worth it? Is it a waste of time and money hire a tenant screening service, to conduct a background check and pull someone’s credit report? Is it a waste of time to check references?

Absolutely not. Let’s be honest: There are dishonest people out there. There are tenants who appear to be something they’re not. There are also decent tenants with a reliable history who become victims of circumstances beyond their control. The greatest way to shield yourself from this kind of bad luck is to employ the very best tenant screening service, to gather all the pertinent facts about a potential tenant before offering them the keys to your property.

It’s true, there is a little bit of luck involved with picking the right tenant. There’s a healthy dose of gut instinct, too. But that instinct should be backed by solid facts supporting your decision, whether it’s to say yes or no to a potential tenant. Selecting someone to sign a lease might seem like a giant leap of faith; while there is a bit of trust involved in the decision, that trust is made much stronger when you have all the knowledge necessary about someone’s criminal record, employment, credit and landlord history from which to draw. 

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