Sunday, November 26, 2006

 

Fair Housing Law and Advertising

I love posting rental ads on Craigslist. It is free and it works. However, it is very important to remember that all advertising for rental is subject to the Fair Housing Law. Unlike print ads where the paper screens the content for you, you are responsible for monitoring your content in online ads. Craigslist won't end up in Federal court but you could. Remember it is illegal to discriminate in rental ads. You can't discriminate on race, religion, gender, marital or familiar status, or disability. In Chicago, sexual orientation is protected too.
What does this mean? You can't use words or terms like: hispanic neighborhood, bachelor pad, near Synagogue, or perfect for a couple. All of these terms are considered discriminatory, whether you mean it or not. Most of the major newspapers are even more cautious and won't allow something like "quiet tree lined street" in an ad.
If you live in a 2-4 unit building (it must be your primary residence) you can be more selective about who moves in. You may not want children living in the building for example. But you cannot advertise that. It is still illegal to discriminate in a print or online ad regardless of who you are. Don't do it.

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?