Can I discriminate “female only “

[Karri Dick]

I have a Detached Garage apartment that is on my sisters property that we will be looking for renters soon. My niece and nephew age 12and 9 will be alone for short periods of time. I live next door but separated by an acre. The property is in the country so a little secluded. We feel there are safety concerns. Legally can we advertise “Female only “ renters? Of course this does not exclude male children.

Thank you

[JD Martin]

Generally, yes. Basic requirements for "legal" discrimination: housing unit on property occupied by the owner; owner has 4 or fewer units; property is not managed by a property manager. You can read the Fair Housing Act and get the specifics but I think you'd be fine here. You probably in fact need to be specific, including the lease, because you need to cover how guests, boyfriends, etc are dealt with as these situations are likely to come up. 

That said: having a female only is no guarantee of safety for your niece and nephew. In fact, it might be more dangerous because you can background check renters but cannot check guests. Given the situation, and that there are concerns for unattended children, I would suggest skipping it as a rental property at this time.