Disability Discrimination in Housing

Disability discrimination in housing is when you are treated worse than others just because you have a disability. It is also when a housing provider refuses to make reasonable changes to accommodate your disability.

What does disabled mean for fair housing law?

Fair housing law says you have a disability if you have a physical or mental limitation that makes doing a major life activity difficult.

Visit our page called Who is Protected? to see if you are protected by fair housing law as a person with a disability.  

Landlords, banks, real estate agents, condo associations and others don’t usually say things like, “You can’t live here because you are disabled.”

They are more likely to say something like:

• “You can’t live here because there’s no one to take care of you.”
• “I’d like to rent to you but my insurance will go up.”
• “I only rent to people who work.”
• “I can’t let you buy this condo because you have hearing challenges and won't hear if there's an emergency.”
• “We have a ‘no pets’ rule. You can’t have your guide dog (or other assistance animal) here.”
• “You won’t be able to get out of the apartment if there is a fire.”
• “Your wheelchair is going to damage the walls, carpet, floors, etc.”
• “I don’t like the look of wheelchair ramps.”
• “Have your psychiatrist call me and tell me what medications you take. Then I’ll decide whether I’ll rent to you.”

Or they do discriminatory things such as:

• Tell you that you need a co-signer when they don’t make people without disabilities have a co-signer.
• Give you a higher interest rate on your mortgage.
• Tell you a condo has already been sold when it hasn’t.
• Refuse to allow a tenant to use a pool or other part of the housing because they have a disability.
• Apply rules about things like noise differently to you than to others.
• Charge special fees, deposits or more rent because a tenant has a wheelchair or an assistance animal.

It’s discriminatory for a housing provider to ask you if you’re disabled, if you use prescription medication or if you have ever been hospitalized.

Do you think your housing provider discriminated against you because of your disability? Go to our What to Do page.

Fair housing laws protect us all, but they don’t protect against all discrimination. It is legal for landlords, realtors and other people to discriminate for other reasons that are not listed in fair housing laws.

For example, a landlord can refuse to rent to someone because he smokes or because she has tattoos. A condo association or landlord can refuse to allow you to have a dangerous animal, such as a dog with a history of biting, as an assistance animal.

Fair housing law only makes it illegal for anyone to restrict or deny another person’s use of housing based on your disability or other reasons listed in fair housing law.

Do you have a disability?  Then you have a right to “reasonable accommodations and modifications” to make it possible for you to get around and do daily activities in your home. Sometimes housing providers such as landlords, mobile home parks, or condo associations discriminate against a person who has a disability by refusing to make these accommodations. Accommodations can be:

• changes in rules or policies — such as allowing a guide dog when there is a “no pets” policy
• changes in physical structure — such as adding a wheelchair ramp to a building’s entrance

See our pages on Reasonable Accommodations and Modifications and Assistance Animals for more details.