Investor · Saint Michael, MN · Member since 2015 · 16 posts · 2 votes
A recent pregnant women applied to rent a townhome of mine for a year lease. She meets the income requirement of 3x the monthly rent, however when she goes on maternity leave, I am not sure that she will. Can I legally ask her how much of her maternity leave will she be paid by her employer? Any advice will help!
Investor · Corona, CA · Member since 2014 · 746 posts · 372 votes
10y
You cannot assume that someone will not be able to pay their rent because they'll be on maternity leave. You don't know what types of savings she may have to cover her leave or if she'll get short term disability which pays a percentage of her income during her leave.
If she is currently working and meets your income and other qualifications for renting, then you must approve her application.
If she does not CURRENTLY meet your application qualifications, then you can deny.
Rental Property Investor · Northern, CA · Member since 2012 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
10y
Pregnancy is covered under Fair Housing laws (familial status), so not renting to her (or treating her differently) because of her pregnancy would definitely be prohibited.
A recent pregnant women applied to rent a townhome of mine for a year lease. She meets the income requirement of 3x the monthly rent, however when she goes on maternity leave, I am not sure that she will. Can I legally ask her how much of her maternity leave will she be paid by her employer? Any advice will help!
Agree with Kyle above, so you need to throw out gender, pregnancy, familial status, etc (just don't even consider it, mention it, or factor it into your screening in any way) then go back to your criteria and see if you have a qualified applicant. Best of luck
Hanford, CA · Member since 2013 · 5k+ posts · 1k+ votes
10y
As everyone said that is fair house.
In regards to your worriers. In my demographic I have not had to worry about that as I rent out to people with skin in the game. Therefore my renters are professionals who want to maintain their good standing in credit, etc.
Investor · Saint Michael, MN · Member since 2015 · 16 posts · 2 votes
10y
Thank you Kyle J., Michael Boyer, and Elizabeth Colegrove for your comments. You've confirmed what I understood to be true about the Fair Housing Laws.
It appears my initial question requires some clarification. I'm wondering if I should consider denying the application based on several criteria such as their credit score not meeting the minimum required and previous delinquent bills showing up on their credit report. I can use those as the legitimate reason to deny the application knowing that my real concern is their inability to pay the rent due to maternity leave. Understanding this background on the situation... does anyone have previous experience with single income households where the "bread winner" goes on maternity leave and then has issues paying the rent. Ex: 12 wk maternity leave turns into "I just don't want to be sepearted from my baby so I don't think I'll go back to work! Or pay my bills..."
I understand that working with professionals decreases the likeliehood of this happening (and this person is a corporate America professional) but thought I'd get some insight from this very well versed community!
Investor · Willow Spring, NC · Member since 2009 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
10y
@Garrett BrunellI think you got the answer above. An exercise for you is to change this phrase "...knowing that my real concern is their inability to pay the rent due to maternity leave" and substitute "maternity leave" with "being X" where X is another protected class based on race, gender, ethnicity, etc. It doesn't read so well, does it?
I agree with your first paragraph. You should have just stopped there.
Rental Property Investor · Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2013 · 6k+ posts · 4k+ votes
10y
It's not legal, but some employers may not hire a woman who is pregnant because they don't want to give her maternity leave or know that they're going to have to have someone fill in for her because she will be away.
Investor · Corona, CA · Member since 2014 · 746 posts · 372 votes
10y
You cannot assume that someone will not be able to pay their rent because they'll be on maternity leave. You don't know what types of savings she may have to cover her leave or if she'll get short term disability which pays a percentage of her income during her leave.
If she is currently working and meets your income and other qualifications for renting, then you must approve her application.
If she does not CURRENTLY meet your application qualifications, then you can deny.
Investor · Saint Michael, MN · Member since 2015 · 16 posts · 2 votes
10y
@Chris Martin, thanks for your response...
Is this site being watched by all the agencies out there? Will anyone have an actual conversation about what they consider when screening applicants? We are intelligent humans on this site and we have the ability to look at the people that submit a rental application, evaluate their situation and apply a reasonable decision regarding whether or not they are an an acceptable risk client. Don't we?
You can't actually tell me that if someone willingly divulges additional information to you that could affect their ability to pay the rent, that you actually do not give that information a second thought when evaluating the other criteria which forms a legal basis for qualification! Can you?
I can appreciate everyone's attention to the laws and I'm not looking to break any laws myself. I've actually accepted the application and I'm proceeding with the rental because the rest of their circumstances and referrals created a decent story which I evaluated to place the applicant in a "low risk" category.
I'm just looking for some feedback regarding how to handle "additional" information, such as maternity leave, when evaluating an applicant.
Investor · Portland, OR · Member since 2013 · 143 posts · 105 votes
10y
If she meets ALL of your pre-determined screening criteria then it would be illegal to rent to her because of her pregnancy. If she doesn't meet ALL of your criteria then you shouldn't be renting to her anyway. There is no room for grey area when screening tenants, either they meet the criteria or not. Bending the rules is how you get sued for retaliation or discrimination. Landlord tenant law has its own version of ambulance chasers that would love nothing more than to make a few bucks off of a landlord that tried to read further into a tenants life than just criminal history, verifiable income, credit score, and rental history.
Logically, we would all like to be able to make decisions based on personality differences, family size, possible income drops, or whatever gut feeling we have. My lawyer likes to say laws replaced logic and now legal precedent is replacing actual laws. You can deny her for any reason you want but if she finds one of the aforementioned "ambulance chasers" you had better have a legal reason to point to or you may end up renting from her.
Investor · Saint Michael, MN · Member since 2015 · 16 posts · 2 votes
10y
@Dawn Anastasi thanks for your feedback. I've heard of that situation with employers. That is an unfortunate reality that company's face when they know that maternity leave is imminent. Definitely not agreeing with company's who do that.
@Jacqueline Carrington you are right about not assuming they will not be able to pay rent. That is something that my wife and I discussed. This particular applicant does very well for herself and income verification shows there's no reason for concern. Thanks!
Investor · Saint Michael, MN · Member since 2015 · 16 posts · 2 votes
10y
@Zach Davis that's a good point about getting sued over bending the leasing criteria based on reading into the applicants life. I hadn't approached it from that perspective before nor have I read about any situation where that is an issue, but I can believe it! Thanks!
Come to Portland some day. I buy low end properties and turn them into middle income/working class rentals. Its amazing how fast unemployed, penniless people can find a lawyer when you evict them.
Investor · Saint Michael, MN · Member since 2015 · 16 posts · 2 votes
10y
I was out there in June and a friend drove me around some interesting neighborhoods. I'm sure there are plenty of people looking to slap a lawsuit on someone out there! :) Best wishes moving forward!
I'll keep your other advice in mind. This is my first rental and the first application I've processed. Needless to say... I'm learning a lot so far.
If she meets ALL of your pre-determined screening criteria then it would be illegal to rent to her because of her pregnancy. If she doesn't meet ALL of your criteria then you shouldn't be renting to her anyway. There is no room for grey area when screening tenants, either they meet the criteria or not. Bending the rules is how you get sued for retaliation or discrimination. Landlord tenant law has its own version of ambulance chasers that would love nothing more than to make a few bucks off of a landlord that tried to read further into a tenants life than just criminal history, verifiable income, credit score, and rental history.
Logically, we would all like to be able to make decisions based on personality differences, family size, possible income drops, or whatever gut feeling we have. My lawyer likes to say laws replaced logic and now legal precedent is replacing actual laws. You can deny her for any reason you want but if she finds one of the aforementioned "ambulance chasers" you had better have a legal reason to point to or you may end up renting from her.
I was going to make a huge post, but Zach has completely covered the issue here. Either she meets your criteria right now, or she does not.
A decision based on pregnancy is absolutely going to get you into trouble if you are investigated, which isn't inconceivable considering a protected class is being told they aren't getting a unit. If you were audited and it was determined that you bent the rules for another renter, for any reason, at any time in the past, then FHA could ding you. Also note that letting this resident in, when she doesn't meet other aspects of your criteria, could be used against you in a future FHA complaint with another protected class. Fun eh?
Thanks for soliciting input Garrett. If you have any other questions please feel welcome to ask!
(Quick Side Note - A similar question I see frequently regarding pregnant women is "well, once the child is born the renter will not qualify based on my occupancy standards, should I rent to them?" and that answer is absolutely. You make your decision based on the current situation, not a projected one. Hope this helps other BP'ers!)
Investor · Saint Michael, MN · Member since 2015 · 16 posts · 2 votes
10y
@Derek Weese Thanks for your reply. I'm understanding that everyone's in agreement not to blur the lines when establishing your criteria for accepting or rejecting an application... As well as knowing and applying the Fair Housing Laws.
Rental Property Investor · Hastings, MN · Member since 2017 · 10 posts · 0 votes
2y
Following up on this, I think Garret's question is less about discriminating based on pregnancy and more asking the following:
Is there a way I can verify that the mother's income will remain the same throughout maternity leave so that the income requirements are met?
A candidate could meet all of your criteria based on their income today, but quickly not meet your criteria if they stop working or their income goes down during leave.
When reviewing income, a good landlord will consider how long the individual has had the job or how consistent the income has been historically. So it seems reasonable that we would also want to forecast this into the future.
Is there any way to ask the applicant about this without violating fair housing?