Need advice on wether or not to rent to people on disability.
Real Estate Investor · Quinton, OK · Member since 2016 · 72 posts · 13 votes
So, I recently listed a property for rent or for sale by owner. I have had several inquires about the property as a rental and the majority of them have been people on disability benefits. I know enough to know that I have to be careful not to discriminate against anyone. I have a couple questions about how to handle this situation.
I am just really hesitant to rent to anyone of disability and would like to hear from someone more experienced them I am in this area.
Beware taking BAD advice. Setting standards just to deny people is BAD practice, BAD business, and ILLEGAL. Instead of worrying about their disability, your ONLY concern should be will they pay as promised, do they have enough income to meet your standards (I look for 3x the monthly rent). As to service animals, they are NOT pets. You cannot deny anyone just because of a service animal. You cannot charge one dime more nor a "pet fee" because service animals are NOT pets.
If the applicant wants special features such as a wheel chair ramp, etc they MUST install that at THEIR expense and you can require them to bring the property back to its original configuration at the end of the lease at THEIR expense.
You set your screening standards at a level where they will most likely not qualify, as a example setting a high credit score requirement will eliminate many on disability.
You keep taking applications until you find the highest qualified applicant. Many landlords disagree with this policy but that is because they fear having to protect their investment.
You have a lot of money tied up in your investment, always put yur needs first and reject any applicant that may place you at risk.
@Thomas S. I think that's exactly what I will do. My gut is telling me that a bad tenant on disability is way more headache than I want to deal with.
Beware taking BAD advice. Setting standards just to deny people is BAD practice, BAD business, and ILLEGAL. Instead of worrying about their disability, your ONLY concern should be will they pay as promised, do they have enough income to meet your standards (I look for 3x the monthly rent). As to service animals, they are NOT pets. You cannot deny anyone just because of a service animal. You cannot charge one dime more nor a "pet fee" because service animals are NOT pets.
If the applicant wants special features such as a wheel chair ramp, etc they MUST install that at THEIR expense and you can require them to bring the property back to its original configuration at the end of the lease at THEIR expense.
Thanks for the advice @John Thedford. I am going to see a lawyer to make sure that I do not over step the law in this matter.
@John Thedford
"Beware taking BAD advice. Setting standards just to deny people is BAD practice, BAD business, and ILLEGAL."
That is the very purpose of setting standards....denying applicants based on mitigating risk. IF a handy capped applicant has a credit score below your minimum requirement it is irrelevant that he is handy capped. Same applies for someone on welfare, if they do not meet your screening requirements they simply do not qualify.
The sole purpose of setting screening standards is to denying applicants based on those standards. This would means that every landlord is acting illegally. Not the case.
Income level is only one of many applicant requirements not the only requirement.
@Gary Dale McKee. It would be good for you to meet a wide variety of people with disabilities and spend time with them. It may help you dispel the myth that people with disabilities are a bad risk, undesirable as tenants, or are likely to have undesirable service animals.
In some jurisdictions, you can't discriminate on "source of income". In all jurisdictions in the United States you can't discriminate on the basis of disability.
Your post comes across as though you don't want to rent to people with disabilities and you want to find a way to do just that, and fly under the legal radar. @Thomas S. is sharing what some unscrupulous landlords do to avoid renting to people with disabilities. You put yourself at risk by following such advice.
Our longest term renter (28+ years) is a person with a qualified disability, receiving disability benefits, and has a cat that qualifies as an assistance animal. I'm thrilled to have her as a tenant! She always pays rent on time, abides by the terms of the rental agreement, and takes good care of her cat. When I enter her apartment I can't even tell the cat lives there. She doesn't ask for much, but when she does, it's a legitimate request.
Some people with disabilities receive public benefits and some do not. Some are good tenants and some are not. Some have service/assistance animals and some do not. Some pay rent on time and some do not. Some are fantastic tenants and some are not. Some are attorneys and some are not. :-)
Setting standard to violate laws is illegal. Of course, we all have standards that are legal. Can they pay? Do they smoke? Do they have pets (not service animals) etc. The OP is asking about standards that are NOT legal such as source of income (that is protected), service animals, etc.
FRSHCRN..following that will help keep out of trouble. Even then, you never know IF someone feels slighted even though nothing was done wrong. I know people that had to defend fair housing complaints and it was not an easy go...deserved or not. I had someone question as to whether they were denied because they were hispanic. I do NOT discriminate under any circumstances, but if someone feels you did, you can be put in a situation that takes time and money. I suggest to anyone reading this to write out their requirements and pass those out to prospects that come to view the property. This will also help weed out the people that cannot meet your qualifications.
I use|:
3x month rent as minimum income
625 or higher credit score
One year on job or if less, in the same field
No smoking ...in or on the premises. I deny ALL smokers--they are NOT protected.
No attorneys...they are not protected either.
No evictions
Criminal history considered. Blanket denials are illegal.
I believe you are giving BAD AND ILLEGAL ADVICE. FRSHCRN is FEDERAL LAW. I believe you are doing a disservice to someone asking a legitimate question wanting to learn.
@John Thedford
"Beware taking BAD advice. Setting standards just to deny people is BAD practice, BAD business, and ILLEGAL."
That is the very purpose of setting standards....denying applicants based on mitigating risk. IF a handy capped applicant has a credit score below your minimum requirement it is irrelevant that he is handy capped. Same applies for someone on welfare, if they do not meet your screening requirements they simply do not qualify.
The sole purpose of setting screening standards is to denying applicants based on those standards. This would means that every landlord is acting illegally. Not the case.
Income level is only one of many applicant requirements not the only requirement.
In the U.S., one of the many relevant laws is Equal Housing Opportunity (EHO) which forbids discrimination on many bases including - you guessed it - physical disability.
If you intend to discriminate against a U.S. citizen who otherwise meets the income requirement you have set up in your business, you'd better be able to defend that action in front of a circuit court judge.
By the way: EHO is a Federal statute. Better get some valid legal advice! (I'm not a legal professional - all I can do is tell you what I understand based on what I have learned.)
A service animal can only be a dog or a small horse (no joke.) And a service animal is NOT an emotional support pet. Emotional support pets are pets- people print up paperwork from the internet so their landlord will allow them to have a pet- they expect their untrained pet to be treated as a service animal, which is a slap in the face to those hard working, trained animals and to the people who train them. Service animals literally save lives and allow their owner to live more independently. An emotional support pet allows their owner to break laws and rules- it's not fair. Ask your attorney about the laws in your state but hopefully this ridiculous emotional support pet scamming (IMO) will be put to a stop.
So much great insight into this topic and I appreciate everyone's input in this discussion. I have a much clearer understanding of the situation now.
A service animal can only be a dog or a small horse (no joke.) And a service animal is NOT an emotional support pet. Emotional support pets are pets- people print up paperwork from the internet so their landlord will allow them to have a pet- they expect their untrained pet to be treated as a service animal, which is a slap in the face to those hard working, trained animals and to the people who train them. Service animals literally save lives and allow their owner to live more independently. An emotional support pet allows their owner to break laws and rules- it's not fair. Ask your attorney about the laws in your state but hopefully this ridiculous emotional support pet scamming (IMO) will be put to a stop.
It's true there are many people faking a disability or faking that their pet is a service/assistance animal. So the savvy landlord should learn how to discern the difference. The scammers do indeed do a disservice to people who have real disabilities and qualified service/assistance animals.
However, read up on Fair Housing laws and assistance animals. Emotional support animals can indeed be legitimate assistance animals necessary for a person who has a qualified disability. The Federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the Federal Fair Housing Act approach the topic differently and cover different segments of the community. As housing providers, it's the Fair Housing laws that are most significant. They are also more lenient when it comes to people with disabilities and their animals.
I rent to folks with disabilities, my advice would be to take "disability" out of the equation and vet them just like any other tenant such has been suggested above.
I rent to folks with disabilities, my advice would be to take "disability" out of the equation and vet them just like any other tenant such has been suggested above.
Right on! Disability is not nor should it EVER be part of the equation.
I definitely could have worded the question better and have no intention of ever discriminating against anyone. My concern is whether or not someone on disability "fixed income" can meet their obligations, even though they qualified on all of my criteria. If they, as any other tenant does default then how much more of a headache is it to evict and deal with in court.
Typically people receiving SS benefits won't qualify unless your house/unit is low income. Uncle Sam doesn't pay that much.
"My concern is whether or not someone on disability "fixed income" can meet their obligations"
Based on the opinions put forward by some on this thread, whether it is intentional or not, if your screening standards include minimum income requirements or minimum credit scores you are discriminating against the disabled.
The opinions shared indicate that if you have standards, intentional or not, you are discriminating and it is illegal. Those landlords had best take some time out to study the law.
When a landlord implements standards which are designed to eliminate certain aspects of risk, such as minimum income levels and credit scores, and those standards are equally applied to all applicants it is not discrimination or illegal. That is the law.
Landlords need to take the time and make the effort to learn the difference between legal and moral judgement. I know the law and do not operate my business based on other individuals that confuse moral with legal.
Gary,
Most of my concerns have already been addressed on here, but one more point I would make. You have used your full name and stated that you don't want to rent to disabled persons, so that is now searchable if any tenant should ever start looking. Please be more careful in the future, so you don't open up your investment business to legal trouble. Good luck!
to put it simple don't set up your screening standards to specificaly deny a class of people. That's the fastest way you will get sued. People aren't stupid and sooner or later someone will figure out what is going on and you will end up in court. As everyone said before they have different types of disabled people including the guys who have fought for our country. Before you advertise anything and if you are serious about what your doing, I would talk to a landlord tenant lawyer in your area.
All landlord screening standards are specifically set to eliminate certain people. Your fear of the system is unjustified and would be elevated if you actually understood the law and how it is applied. When standards are equally applied to all applicants there can be no violation. When standards eliminate both disabled and able bodied persons there can legally be no violation of the law.
Your moral outrage and righteous indignation is misplaced.
PS. if you are suggesting that a disabled vet is somehow different from any other disabled person that would be discrimination.
The systems are put in place to vet people who would not able to pay your rent and who would most likely cause damage to your property. Going off of your previous talk you seem to have a lot of preconceived notions of different types of people. Which is sad especially since you are extremely active on the forums. As I said previously in my post if you create systems to target a specific group of people it will get you in trouble. I made no comment about rules that affect abled bodied and non abled bodied tenants. The statement that I made was in the event that a system was created to block only non abled bodied people from moving into the property. You may condone creating those systems but I cannot. I have met upstanding citizens who are more than qualified to live in properties but because they are disabled you want them to be passed up. Yes I have a moral outrage in situations like that. We aren't in the 1950's anymore. Also if you correctly read the laws in most of the states in the US and the federal statutes, creating systems as the one you are promoting would land you in the hot seat. I would request that you stop giving immoral advice to our new landlords and stop also giving them ways to circumvent the law to achieve these goals.
"you seem to have a lot of preconceived notions of different types of people"
Not preconceived "notions". Experience derived from extensive dealings with people for 40 years professionally and in the capacity as a landlord. I can risk assess every individual based on their background, It is screening 101.
Thankfully other peoples moral outrage does not interfere with my ability to successfully operate a minimum risk business within the boundaries of the law.
Bottom line is laws are never ridged. Obeying rules because you think you should is not the same as making moral choices.
"Not preconceived "notions". Experience derived from extensive dealings with people for 40 years professionally and in the capacity as a landlord. I can risk assess every individual based on their background, It is screening 101."
Based on what you said you have built profiles of people based on your experiences. I'm assuming that you stopped actually screening people years ago since your experience is so "vast" and you have been through every situation imaginable. Screening 101 means that you screen every tenant. Not jump to conclusions about what you think will happen based on your experience. Experience is suppose to be a supplement to your screening process it is not suppose to be the only screening process.
"Thankfully other peoples moral outrage does not interfere with my ability to successfully operate a minimum risk business within the boundaries of the law."
In Florida your way of screening would be illegal. experience is not a legal way to screen tenants. As said previously it is there to supplement the other screening systems you have in place.
Bottom line screen your tenants fairly and properly
And people refuted me when I said racism and discrimination in housing doesn't exist. Just look at some of these responses! "Find anything you can to disqualify them," is a tone that rings rampant in this forum! PRIVILEGE!