Your Rights As a Tenant
If your application to rent an apartment is rejected, you have a right to know why. It is illegal for a landlord to refuse your rental application for discriminatory reasons. Federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of:
- Race
- Color
- Religion
- National origin
- Sex
- Age
- Familial status (including not allowing children, discrimination against pregnant women)
- Physical disability
- Mental disability (including alcoholism and past drug addiction)
States and many cities have similar housing laws, and yours may prohibit other kinds of discrimination, including:
- Marital status
- Sexual orientation
Federal housing law prohibits a variety of discriminatory conduct:
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Advertising cannot contain any statement indicating a preference or limitation based on any of the protected classes listed above.
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The landlord may not make any similar implication or statement.
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A landlord cannot say that an apartment is not available when in fact it is available.
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A landlord cannot use a different set of rules for assessing applicants belonging to a protected class.
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A landlord cannot refuse to rent to persons in a protected class.
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A landlord cannot provide different services or facilities to tenants in a protected class or require a larger deposit, or treat late rental payments differently.
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A landlord cannot end a tenancy for a discriminatory reason.
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A landlord cannot harass you.
Note: The federal housing statutes do not apply to all rental property. The main exceptions are owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer rental units (e.g., a duplex), housing offered by religious groups or private organizations for their members, housing designated for senior citizens, and single-family housing being rented without discriminatory advertising or a real estate broker.
A landlord cannot refuse to rent to you because of a "no pets" policy if you have a trained helper animal, such as a seeing-eye dog, or a dog that helps you negotiate with a physical or mental disability. If the landlord does refuse, he or she has violated federal law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Example: A jury in Minneapolis, Minnesota, recently awarded large damages to a man who was grief-stricken after his son's murder and had begun taking care of his son's dog at the suggestion of his therapist. Before he started taking care of the dog he was severely depressed and not functioning normally. The jury concluded that enforcing the landlord's no-pets policy under those circumstances was a form of disability discrimination.
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