As a landlord in Florida, the Fair Housing Act (FHA) requires you to treat your tenants fairly. It’d be illegal for you to discriminate against them based on certain protected classes, such as race, color, national origin, and physical or mental impairment. The FHA aims to stop all forms of housing discrimination.

The FHA covers most housing types, including private and public housing, and is an essential part of the Florida rental law. It’s meant to provide equal opportunity to all when it comes to housing.

Here is a comprehensive rundown of everything Florida landlords should know about the Fair Housing laws and the protected classes it covers, such as national origin and sexual orientation.

What Is the FHA?

The Fair Housing Act is a landmark piece of legislation prohibiting housing providers from discriminating against their clients based on various protected classes. It’s goal is equal opportunity for housing for all. Key housing providers include landlords, property managers, and even mortgage financiers.

Originally, the act only protected individuals from housing discrimination based on only four classes. That was: race, color, religion, and national origin. However, the act has undergone several amendments over the years to include even more protections.

Today, the Federal Fair Housing Act covers 7 protected classes. That is, race, color, religion, sex, nationality, disability, and familial status. Florida law has also increased the list of protections to cover one additional class: pregnant individuals.

Why Was the FHA a Landmark Piece of Legislation?

Before the passage of the FHA in 1968, housing discrimination was pretty commonplace. It was deeply ingrained in the American culture, impacting various groups like race, color, nationality, religion, and familial status due to biases of property owners.

In addition to addressing systematic racism and discrimination, the act was a landmark ruling for:

• Building upon the previous civil rights legislation
• Establishing enforcement mechanisms
• Raising awareness in favor of housing practices

What Are Examples of Discriminatory Actions By Landlords?

As a landlord, you’ll want to avoid the following discriminatory actions:

• Refusing to rent your vacant rental property to a qualified prospective renter. If the tenant feels you as a housing provider have refused their offer based on their protected class, they may lodge a formal complaint about you. This includes refusal or hesitancy about making reasonable accommodations to your unit for a disable tenant. Reasonable accommodations should never be a barrier to housing, which includes an accessible route to the unit.
• Trying to evict your tenant based on a protected class, such as race, color, nationality, or religion. Under Florida law, you can only evict a tenant for a legitimate reason, such as for failing to pay rent or for breaking the lease early.
• Refusing to make reasonable modifications to your unit or accepting reasonable accommodation requests from a disabled tenant
• Raising rent or other fees in such a manner as to discourage a person of a protected class from applying
• Guiding rental applicants towards other properties because you prefer tenants of another gender, color, familial status, or race
• Sexually harassing a tenant in exchange for housing
• Intimidating a tenant by creating a hostile living environment

What are Exceptions to the FHA?

While the conditions of the Fair Housing Act apply in most housing situations, a few exemptions to its protections exist. The following are some of those exemptions.

• An owner-occupied dwelling which has a maximum of four units
• A single-family home that a landlord rents without using a broker. The landlord or housing provider must not own more than three of such single-family homes.
• Religious organizations are also exempt. These organizations can discriminate against non-members. They must, however, not discriminate against their members based on the protected classes.
• Private clubs. These operate the same way as religious organizations.
• Housing for the elderly. These are exempt from the FHA depending on the specific criteria on age percentages and government programs involved.

Who Oversees Fair Housing in Florida?

In Florida, the Fair Housing laws is overseen by both federal and state entities. It just depends on the specific situation. At the federal level, it is overseen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Federal Fair Housing Assistance Agencies (FHAA). The Department of Housing and Urban Development holds up these laws as best they can.

At the state level, the FHA is overseen by the Florida Commission on Human Relations (FCHR). Some local governments in Florida may also have their own enforcement agencies as well as a list of protected classes.

Depending on the exact location, it may be illegal to discriminate based on classes such as gender identity, sexual orientation, and marital status.

With that in mind, make sure to do your due diligence on local and state laws before listing your property.

Do Disabled Tenants Have Any Special Protections Under the FHA?

People living with disabilities have certain special protections under the law. Both the FHA
and the Americans with Disabilities Act guarantee them a right to fair and equal treatment.

Oftentimes, however, confusion exists as to what exactly constitutes a disability. Also, some landlords may not know what reasonable accommodations they must provide to their disabled tenants.

The disabilities that the act covers include the following:

• Mental illness
• Mobility impairments
• HIV/AIDS
• Intellectual disabilities
• Drug addiction
• Alcoholism

Additionally, you must honor the disabled tenant’s reasonable accommodation requests, as well as make reasonable modifications to the unit, and you cannot do things like charge an extra security deposit.

How Can Landlords Provide Fair Housing to Tenants?

The FHA applies in most facets of the landlord-tenant relationship. Including, when advertising the unit, screening prospective tenants, and pricing the rental unit.

The following are some of the things you can do to ensure you abide by the Florida anti-discrimination law.

• Use the right language when marketing a vacant unit. Avoid using a language that discriminates against protected classes.
• Only ask the right questions when screening prospective tenants
• Only evict a tenant for legal reasons
• Charge a consistent rental price to all tenants
• Only turn down an applicant for not meeting the standard screening criteria
• Honor a disabled tenant’s reasonable request for accommodations and modifications

Bottom Line

Before you start accepting rental applications, first familiarize yourself with the Florida FHA. This will help you to not only stay out of legal trouble, but also solidify your landlord-tenant relationship.

If you have a question, Pro X PM Swain Group can help. We can provide you with all the help you need, whether it’s keeping your property legally compliant, finding a tenant, or setting the right rental price.