Fair housing testing is an essential tool for ensuring that property owners and managers comply with fair housing laws. The practice involves sending testers, who pose as potential renters, to assess whether landlords and property managers are engaging in discriminatory practices. As a landlord or property manager, it’s crucial to be prepared for when a tester comes to call. In this article, we’ll explore who can be a tester and the common methods they employ. We’ll also share tips to help ensure that you don’t fail your fair housing test.
Who Can Be a Tester and Where Can They Test?
Testers can come from various backgrounds and organizations. They can work for state fair housing departments, private fair housing advocacy groups, or the Department of Justice. Regardless of who they work for, their goal is to ascertain whether landlords and property managers are following the law and are fair housing compliant.
Testers use leading questions to target known trouble spots within the industry. Vague or leading questions should immediately set off warning bells in your mind that you are talking to a tester. You need to be sure that you are not saying or doing anything that could be interpreted as a violation.
Where might you come across a tester? Essentially, any place a potential renter would cross paths with a leasing agent can be a testing ground. Testers employ all forms of contact, including phone, email, social media outlets, and on-site visits. By far, though, the phone is the most widely used as it is the most cost- and time-efficient. Let’s consider two common topics used by telephone testers.
What Are Your Pet Policies?
One of the most common topics used in testing is about animals or pets. Testers will give just enough information to see how you or your staff respond. For example, a person calls in and says they are interested in your property but want to make sure their dog would be allowed, and the dog is a German Shepherd. It’s essential to note that the person said “their dog,” not “their pet.”
By assuming that the dog is a pet and wouldn’t pass your breed restriction policy, you could be setting yourself up for a fair housing complaint. Best practices dictate that pet policies can be discussed as long as assistance-animal policies are also shared. Along with that, it is always a good policy to encourage the person to come in and fill out an application, as that is what will genuinely determine eligibility.
Is Your Property Accessible?
Another common question during fair housing testing is about accessibility. Consider this scenario, a person calls in and asks if the property is accessible because they require the use of mobility aids. It’s crucial to note that even if a property is not very accessible, and you have the best of intentions, you should never disclose this information and should avoid recommending more accessible properties. This can appear as discrimination and steering, which are violations of fair housing laws.
The correct response is to encourage them to visit the property’s website to see more images and arrange for a tour if they wish. You should never discourage a potential renter from coming in to take a tour or fill out an application under any circumstances.
Tips to Help Ensure You Pass Your Fair Housing Test
Educate yourself and your team: Proper training is key to ensuring fair housing compliance. It’s essential to educate yourself and your team on fair housing laws, including federal, state, and local laws. Make sure you are familiar with protected classes and any exemptions that may apply to your property.
Have clear policies and procedures: Develop clear policies and procedures for renting your property, including pet policies and assistance-animal policies. Make sure they are easily accessible to anyone who needs them.
Document everything: Document everything, including conversations with potential renters and any decisions you make regarding their eligibility. This documentation can be helpful in case of a fair complaint.
These are just a few topics that can come up during a fair housing test, but anything related to fair housing can be utilized. Regardless of whether you agree with testing and the tactics testers are legally allowed to use, fair housing training is key to ensuring fair housing compliance.
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Understanding Hoarding Disorder:
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What is Website Accessibility and Why Is It Important?
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Increase Income
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Setting Yourself Up for Success
Let’s first start with some essential features of your vetting process. Our free 10-page guide, How to Place Your Ideal Tenant, discusses finding and vetting a tenant but does not cover what to do if you have to deny an application. One aspect of marketing your unit goes over how important it is for a landlord to create their qualifying criteria and ensure the applicants are aware of these criteria before paying a fee and completing your rental application.
Standard qualifying criteria would be:
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Tenant moveouts are never any fun. Even if you have one who you’ve looked forward to having move on, flipping a unit and placing a new tenant is a lot of work. So, whether you’re new to this process or a seasoned landlord, please continue reading for our step-by-step guide to tenant moveouts.
If needed, set a reminder on your phone 65 days before a tenant’s lease is due for renewal. If you are not renewing their lease, typically, it is a safe business practice to give a tenant 60 days’ notice of non-renewal. Landlords can do this using a state-specific form or a simple email. Depending on your specific state, you may have to give a reason for the non-renewal or pay relocation fees. Know and understand your state and local landlord-tenant laws.
If the tenant is offered a renewal but opts to move out, they generally must give 30 days’ notice to vacate the premises. This is when the clock starts clicking for both the landlord and the tenant.
Acknowledge the Tenant’s Intent to Vacate
In written form (typically email), confirm you have received their notice to exit. Let them know that they have the option to schedule a pre-moveout inspection (more on this below) within the final two weeks of tenancy. Also, let them know that, within those last two weeks, you will send another email detailing the costs associated if they choose not to clean the unit.
Check On Old Marketing Info for Your Unit
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When you lease your rental property to a new tenant, information overload for them is real. They may be preoccupied with moving and all the fun stuff that comes with that monumental task. Even if you review move-in details in person, consider creating a “New Tenant Welcome Binder” for them to reference. Undoubtedly, there will be an instance when they try to remember something you mentioned. This welcome binder will keep them from having to make phone calls to you, saving you from having to repeat yourself. Here are 10 things new tenants need to know from landlords when they move in.
Our welcome binder includes all of the following:
1. A copy of their signed lease.
Yes, an electronic copy is great. However, we also include a physical copy so that tenants can do a quick reference on dates and amounts or look for the information we noted on an addendum that they can’t remember about the washer and dryer repair.
2. How they pay rent?
Make sure they have the link to the app you use, an address to mail it, or instructions on when they should expect an invoice from you (if using accounting software). If there are any specifics regarding fees or payment methods related to paying online, this is where you can remind them of it. For example, we use accounting software for invoicing our tenants on the 15th of the month before the next due date. Because it can take five business days for us to receive the rent (it gets deposited into our account), we always remind tenants to pay it by the 25th of the month before the due date so it will not be considered received late by us. This reminder is because we account for rent paid when it is in our hands, not when the system emails us letting us know the tenant paid their invoice and money is on the way.