As professional apartment management employees and property owners, we need to remember that governmental agencies (such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as state, city, and/or county anti-discrimination agencies) look for cases with what they view as “good facts” to bring. Our friends at the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) found one of those cases last year when an apartment landlord refused to rent to a family because the husband is serving in the military (he is a United States Marine) and if his unit gets deployed overseas, the family will need to break its lease.

The apartment owner met with the wife and expressed no hesitation about renting a unit to this family until the wife informed him that her husband is in the Marine Corps. Once the landlord learned about the military service, he allegedly would not provide the family with an application nor would he rent them a unit. The family filed a complaint under a California state law which prohibits businesses from discriminating against someone on the basis of occupation or any other arbitrary basis and pursuant to the California fair housing act (which includes source of income as a protected class).  While I know there are always at least two sides to every story, the optics here are not good for management.

To resolve the case, the landlord agreed to pay $4,500 and attend fair housing training.

It should go without saying that we welcome those who serve our country into our apartment communities. If a soldier is deployed overseas during a lease term, I would suggest working with the family to find an appropriate result if they reach out to you with a request. Indeed, there are times when members of the military are specifically permitted to break their residential leases.

Just A Thought.

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