
Don’t discourage applications from
individuals who appear to be disabled! Resist the temptation to
“know what’s best” for disabled applicants who you think will
not qualify or who will not like the rental unit. If you
discourage a person from applying, you may be violating the fair
housing laws.
HUD recently charged an owner of a
rental unit with denying housing to a couple who were disabled.
The case alleges that when the couple applied for housing, the
wife told the property manager that she liked the unit because
it was close to the medical center where she went for kidney
dialysis. The husband viewed the unit while using his mobile
oxygen tank. The property manager failed to process the
application; she actually threw it into the garbage! When the
couple later called to check on the status of the application,
the property manager agent said she felt they were “too sick” to
live in the unit. If HUD is successful in proving the case, the
property owner and manager may have to pay damages, costs, and
attorney fees, as well as being subject to an ongoing
injunction.
What the
property manager should have done was to receive the application
and process it as she would any other application. Whether or
not the couple would have been “too sick” to live in the rental
unit is NOT a decision for the property manager to make. |