(Here is an excerpt from some of Mr. Zehring's training curriculum)

The Application Process...You Pick Your Problems

The simple fact that management has a rental application suggests that management has the right to select who lives in a manufactured housing rental community. This is an advantage that all housing communities do not enjoy. But management will enjoy this advantage only if they use it to their advantage.

Residents of “single family home” neighborhoods have no control over who buys a house and moves in next door to them. The management and owners of a manufactured housing community need to understand that no one can move into their rental community without asking for, and receiving permission.

This gives managers and owners an awful lot of responsibility. And therefore, liability. Management has a responsibility to tenants in their community. In fact, virtually everywhere in the United States, management has a legal duty to provide a safe environment for their tenants to live in.

If management does not live up to that responsibility, management may possibly be held liable for the criminal action of others. For example: if property management allows a convicted sex offender to move into the rental community and the offender molests a child on the premises, management may be held civilly liable for his actions.

A few basic screening procedures may enable management to relieve that liability while at the same time fulfilling their responsibility to their tenants.

Understanding Fair Housing Laws

Simply put, the Federal Fair Housing Laws strictly prohibit any discrimination against protected classes. Some of those protected classes include, but are not limited to:

• Race
• Religion
• Disability
• Familial status
• Color
• Gender
• National origin

What many people are not aware of is that EVERYONE is in a protected class! If you think about it, everyone has a race, a color, a gender, a national origin, etc. No one can discriminate against any applicant based on their color, regardless of what color they are. No one can be denied residency based on their national origin, regardless of where they were born.

Tenant Criteria

Since the fair housing laws protect every applicant, management has one of two choices.

1.  Accept every one who applies. I do not recommend that management does this. (Management must be able to justify why they refused an applicant. In a discrimination case, the management has the burden of to prove their action was not discriminatory.)

-- or --

2.  Scrutinize applications to be certain they meet acceptable rental criterion. In order to justify denying an application, management will have to show that they did not discriminate against one of the protected classes in their decision. One of the best ways to protect against fair housing complaints is to have written rental criteria that every applicant must meet when filling out the rental application.

This written criterion serves two purposes. First, it serves, as a pre-screening tool to weed out the applicants that will not qualify to live in the rental community. Second, it gives management set standards that every applicant must meet. This provides management the proper justification to deny an application.

In most states, management has the freedom and responsibility to determine what the criteria will be. Management can make it as lax or strict as they want, as long as they do not discriminate against one of the protected classes. Familial status may not apply the same in a 55+ (or adult) community.

It’s Worth The Effort

Property managers and owners have differing views on how, or if, they should screen prospective residents. Some have rigid guidelines; others feel that calling references or checking prospective residents is not worth the effort.

Remember that management actually picks their problem residents. No one can move into their community unless management allows them to live there. The severity of the problems management has in their community will depend on the quality of their criteria, rental application and background investigation.

7. Ever moved to avoid eviction or because of problems with other tenants or a landlord?

Management should be sure the applicants explain all “Yes” answers in detail. At a minimum management should ask if the applicant or any person living in the home has ever been convicted of a crime. Management should inquire about all crimes, not just felonies. Many of the crimes that will cause management the most problems are not felonies. I do not recommend you discriminate against applicants based on an arrest. This is especially true if the charges were ultimately dropped.

Criminal Background Checks

Material Falsification

In most states, material falsification of the information provided on the rental application, will allow the management to serve a notice to the resident, terminating the rental agreement.

If the residents claims the misinformation was an “honest mistake” but the corrected information they provide would have disqualified the applicant as well, the manager probably should proceed with the written notice.

If the corrected information would have allowed the resident to qualify, the manager should probably void the notice. Most states allow for an eviction against a resident who has given untrue or misleading information on the application pertaining to such things as:

• Criminal records
• Pets
• Prior eviction records
• Income of prospective resident
• Current criminal activity
• Social security number
• Number of occupants in dwelling unit
• Current employment

Refusing An Application

It is important that management keeps documentation for the applications that they have refused to approve. This documentation should be kept in the application file and retained for future use. Along with documentation, management must be consistent in following the defined criteria and standards they have set for their manufactured housing community.

Remember that the Fair Housing Laws do not say you have to turn your I.Q. back 30 points, nor do they require that you have to rent to everyone who applies. The Fair Housing Laws simply prohibit discrimination based on the applicable protected classes in your area.

This website is not intended to provide specific legal advice. Click here.