The Fair Housing Act: What California Landlords Should Know

The Fair Housing Act: What California Landlords Should Know
By Coachella Valley Property Management - Thursday, October 6, 2022
If you’re a landlord who is renting out a property in Palm Springs or anywhere in California, your attention to fair housing laws is critical. This is a state with a lot of tenant protections. In fact, the state fair housing laws are stricter than the federal laws.  You need to know these laws because you don’t want to discriminate against people when you’re renting out a home. You also want to avoid mistakes because fair housing claims are expensive.  That’s why our advice to Palm Springs landlords is to be over-cautious about complying with state and federal fair housing laws. Often, there’s confusion about what owners and landlords can do and not do when it comes to screening and advertising and even eviction and lease renewals.  Based on our property management experience and expertise, we’ve put together a brief list of things you need to know about fair housing and how it affects your Palm Springs rental property.

The Federal Fair Housing Act (1968)

The federal Fair Housing Act protects a number of named classes of people against discrimination in rental housing. This law applies to you as a landlord as well as real estate agents, property managers, lenders, insurance agents, and anyone who has an impact on providing housing to consumers.  These are the protected classes. You cannot discriminate against anyone based on:
  • Race.
  • Skin color.
  • Religion or creed.
  • National origin or ancestry. 
  • Sex.
  • Physical or mental disability.
  • Familial status.
You may think with some satisfaction that you’d never discriminate against someone when renting out your property. You probably wouldn’t intentionally discriminate. However, you can make unintentional mistakes when you’re advertising your property and screening tenants. You might use language that can be perceived as discriminatory. Or, if you screen two tenants to different standards, it could be seen as discrimination. The mistakes are not always obvious. Here’s an example. You might say that a property is perfect for families or great for a single professional. Those descriptions can be seen as discriminatory.  When you’re screening tenants, you have to hold every applicant to the same standards. You cannot deny one applicant because their credit score was a 520, but then accept another applicant with a credit score of 500. When that happens, it was clearly not the credit score you were looking at.  You need to be deliberate and attentive to language and consistency. 

State Level: California Fair Housing Laws

California has additional protections in place when it comes to fair housing.  The state has a longer list of protected classes than those on the federal law list. In California, we get into protected classes that cover all the federal classes plus:
  • Sexual orientation
  • Age
  • Gender identification
  • Gender expression
  • Veteran or military status
  • Citizenship 
  • Primary language
  • Marital status
  • Source of income
  • Genetic information
Tenants have a lot of protections in Palm Springs. If you’re not able to stay up to date on the most critical laws, make sure you’re partnering with a property management company that can help you.

Staying Up to Date on Fair Housing Laws

It’s important to stay up to date with California fair housing laws because these protected classes are always evolving. Fair housing laws extend to screening practices in new ways. For example, in some cities, it is not permitted to run a criminal background check until after a tenant has been approved for a property.  Recently, the law has changed in two specific areas of fair housing, and we want to talk about those in depth. These areas are service and support animals (federal law) and Section 9 tenants (state law).

  • Service and Companion Animals in Palm Springs

Do you love pets? We know that pets are more popular than ever. Providing a pet-friendly rental home is a great way to increase what you earn and decrease your vacancy exposure.  But, not all rental property owners are thrilled with the idea of pets in their property. So, they decide not to allow them.  That’s fine. Pets are not a protected class.  But, you cannot deny a tenant a service animal or a support animal, even if you have a no-pet policy.  The law does not see service or support animals as pets. They see them as accommodations.  That Seeing-Eye-Dog is treated just like a wheelchair ramp would be treated. An emotional support animal would be treated like a dedicated parking spot.  Not only are you required to accept the qualified tenants and their service or companion animals; you also cannot charge a pet fee, pet deposit, or pet rent. There are some nuances to how a service animal is treated versus a companion animal.  Service animals are trained in specific tasks and they are always dogs.  Companion animals, however, provide support, therapy, or emotional help to their owners.  When a tenant has a service animal, you need to allow that animal without any questions. It will likely be identified easily.  Companion animals, however, can be questioned carefully. They are prescribed by healthcare providers, and you can ask your tenant for a copy of a letter or other documentation from their doctor or provider. This should outline why the animal is necessary.

  • Section 8 Tenants and the Leasing Process

The Tenant Protection Act was passed in 2019, and went into effect in 2020. This law is best known for statewide rent control and just cause evictions, but there’s also something in it that applies to Section 8 tenants and whether they can apply to rent your property.  They can. Those housing vouchers that Section 8 tenants receive can be used as proof of income. It cannot matter how tenants make their money when they apply to live in your home. As long as they have the required income that meets your screening criteria, you must consider them. Previously, landlords could advertise “No Section 8” when marketing properties. That is not the case any longer. You must consider every applicant, regardless of income type. Contact Property ManagerFollowing fair housing laws is a lot more complex than simply making a policy of not discriminating against those protected classes. You have to have policies that reflect equal opportunity when it comes to advertising, screening, leasing, and managing your home.  We know this is an area that can be difficult to navigate, and we’d like to help you stay in compliance. If you’d like more information or help evaluating your current policies and procedures, please contact us at Xepco Properties. We’d be happy to serve as your Palm Springs property management resource. 

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Coachella Valley Property Management
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