The Fair Housing Act protects you from discrimination when you are renting, buying, or securing financing for any housing. You may not be denied housing because of your race, color, religion, national origin, gender, familial status (families with children), and/or disability. These are protected classes. If any of the following has happened to you, you may have been illegally denied your right to Fair Housing because of your class membership:
- You are told a house or apartment is not available when it really is.
- You are denied the right to rent or buy a house or apartment because you have children, or you are told your family is too large.
- A landlord refuses to rent to you because you are physically disabled or refuses to make reasonable changes in the lease to enable you to use and enjoy your home comfortably, such as install a wheelchair ramp or widen doorways.
- Because of your skin color, a bank or other lending institution refuses to lend you money to buy real estate, or the institution changes the requirements for lending you money.
Anyone who has control over residential property must follow the law. This includes rental managers, property owners, real estate agents, landlords, banks, developers, builders, and individual homeowners who are selling or renting their property.