Section 8 discrimination case settled for $105K
Another landlord was served with a helping of humble pie, and this time the slice was $105,000 in damages after discriminating against apartment hunters bearing housing subsidies, prying into sex and marital status, and doubling the amount that could be legally charged for a rental application fee.
We’ve become well acquainted with a Bay Area attorney who is making a nice living shaking down landlords with the threat of a lawsuit unless the landlord ponies up a big sum of cash to settle the matter. Even if landlords and their agents do not come across opportunistic attorneys like him, the government can still sue, as was the case for Platzner International Group, who felt the wrath of New York’s top cop, Attorney General Letitia James.
If you’ve been following us for a while, we are preaching to the choir when we say that landlords and their agents need to be careful when marketing their rentals and fielding applicants, but even that term - “preaching to the choir” - can invite a lawsuit by making a religious connotation. We are half kidding. We urge our community to be cautious with language.
Property management companies with a high turnover rate are particularly vulnerable.
Traditionally, it has been difficult to retain the best and brightest employees in the stressful field of property management. Three key skill sets are excellent communication, meticulous bookkeeping, and the other is knowledge of law. Education is key, but this can be frustrating when there is a revolving door of employees.
Our advice to property management companies is to invest as much as possible in education and to take care of employees who demonstrate excellence, perhaps with bonuses, with an emphasis on who the first person is to answer the phone. This first point of contact fielding inquiries from apartment hunters is most prone to make mistakes.
As part of our educational outreach, watch and listen to our earlier webinar on this topic.