Fair Housing Act
The Fair Housing Act was adopted April 11, 1968 to prohibit various forms of discrimination. Community associations must comply with the Fair Housing Act. 42 United States Code section 3602(d) provides that the Act applies to " individuals, corporations, partnerships, associations, labor organizations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations, trustees, trustees in cases under title 11 [of the United States Code], receivers, and fiduciaries." A community association is a corporation. Therefore, the Fair Housing Act applies to community Associations.
The Fair Housing Act was adopted to prohibit various forms of discrimination in housing, including, but not limited to, discrimination based on age, familial status, handicap or national origin. An association must exercise great caution to ensure it does not violate the Fair Housing Act because the cost to an association can be significant. For example, in Housing Rights Center v. Ayvazian , the plaintiffs sued alleging that the manager had discriminated on the basis of familial status by prohibiting children form playing in the courtyard, which was the only common area. It is important to note that the rule applied only to children. As a result, the Judge found the rule was discriminatory because it did not apply to all residents. The Court also awarded plaintiffs $12,892 in compensatory damages, and ordered defendants to pay over $21,000.00 in attorneys fees. Thus, a seemingly innocuous rule cost the defendant over $30,000.00.