A very hot topic this year is fair housing in Mesa. Clients will call and say they want to rent out their property but they don’t want to rent to tenants with kids or a particular class of people. One of the first things I have to do is stop that person and explain that as a licensed real estate broker, there are a lot of laws that we have to follow. The first one is fair housing.
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Property Management Mesa: Consistent Rental Criteria
We cannot treat one individual above or below another. When someone applies for a home, we have a list of
rental criteria that must be met, and as long as the prospective tenant reaches that criteria, we don’t ask about their race, sexual orientation, family status, or if they’re disabled. None of that matters as long as they qualify to be in the property. Take a look at our rental qualifications to see what you can require and what you cannot require.
Criminal History and Disparate Impact
One of the biggest changes to fair housing this year is criminal history. Criminal status was never a protected class until recently. If, during our screening process, we discovered that someone had committed a crime even 15 or 20 years ago, we could deny them without violating the law. But the federal department of Housing and Urban Development decided that by having standards when it comes to criminal records, we have disproportionately impacted certain citizens, which is a form of discrimination.
This is an evolving topic, and we have to have policies that are common sense. If someone committed a crime at the age of 16,and now they’re 56, and they’ve had a clean record since then, we shouldn’t hold that prior record against them. They have paid their debt to society. Housing is a basic human element, and we have to make it available in a fair and consistent manner.
This is a broad topic, and there’s a lot more information to share. If you have any questions on the changes impacting fair housing in Mesa or anything pertaining to
Mesa property management, please
contact us at East Valley Property Management.
