May 6, 2022

AG Healey Settles With Discriminatory Housing Software Companies

Lori Kalani, Bernard Nash

Cozen O'Connor

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Cozen O'Connor

Massachusetts AG Maura Healey has settled with two software companies, Buildium LLC and Tenant Turner, Inc., to resolve allegations that the two companies sold tenant-screening software for landlords marketed as “fair housing-compliant” when, in fact, the software facilitated discrimination against certain prospective tenants.
In the Assurances of Discontinuance, it was alleged that the software companies’ products explicitly offered the option for landlords to unlawfully exclude from consideration potential tenants who were receiving government housing vouchers, as well as those with certain felony convictions. Prospective tenants flagged by these features received an automated message from the software informing them of their disqualification.
Under the terms of the Assurance of Discontinuance, Defendants must pay a total of $100,000 to the Commonwealth, adopt fair-housing compliant policies, and are prohibited from offering features in their software that identify or disqualify prospective tenants on the basis of receipt of public assistance or criminal records; or that disqualify them on the basis of their criminal history.

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