Metro Apartment Manager, December 2006

Q: We are thinking of making some of our apartments nonsmoking. Can we do that without tripping over fair housing law?

A: The simple answer to the question is: yes. But if you had said, “Can we do that without considering fair housing” the answer would have been no. Only those interested in how we get to the answer, or in the implications of the answer, should read on.

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Metro Apartment Manager (PDF), April 2006

Q: We’re considering prohibiting smoking in our small plex because we think it will improve the quality of tenants we get. Is that legal?

A: Fair housing laws protect people who belong to protected classes. That means you can’t say you rent to them because they are members of a protected class. Of course, all of us belong to protected classes: we all are one sex or another (or… but that’s for another column), one race or another (or more than one), one religion or another (or none).

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