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May 9, 2019 Topics • Fair Housing • Lawful Source of Income • Gender Identity • Personal Letters • Service Animals • New Smoke Detector Law • NAR Code of Ethics: Standard of Practice 1-7 • New Sexual Harassment Law • Social Media • Proper Use of Corporate Titles/License Types • Certificate of Occupancy for Rentals • Coming Soon Listings • Eavesdropping • DOS Opinion Escrow Account Charges • Recent Decisions of Interest • Agency FAIR HOUSING: LAWFUL SOURCE OF INCOME 5 Lawful Source of Income • Effective April 12, 2019 (a/k/a NOW) • New protected class in NY • “Lawful source of income” • Executive Law §292 and §296 6 What is Lawful Source of Income • "lawful source of income" shall include, but not be limited to • child support • Alimony • foster care subsidies • income derived from social security • any form of federal, state, or local public assistance • housing assistance including, but not limited to, section 8 vouchers • any other form of housing assistance payment or credit whether or not such income or credit is paid or attributed directly to a landlord, and any other forms of lawful income. 7 What is Lawful Source of Income • The provisions of this subdivision shall not be construed to prohibit the use of criteria or qualifications of eligibility for the sale, rental, leasing or occupancy of publicly-assisted housing accommodations where such criteria or qualifications are required to comply with federal or state law, or are necessary to obtain the benefits of a federal or state program. A publicly assisted housing accommodation may include eligibility criteria in statements, advertisements, publications or applications, and may make inquiry or request information to the extent necessary to determine eligibility. 8 Exemptions from the Law • If a licensee is involved, there are no exemptions or carve outs for: • Owner-occupants • Dwellings with 1 or 2 units • Commercial property • Vacant land • Anything else a landlord may try to justify 9 Criteria or Qualifications • Only permitted for publicly assisted housing as defined in Executive Law §296(11) • Issue of full rent being paid vs partial payment • “I need credit score to see if they can pay utilities etc.” 0 Criteria or Qualifications • No longer permitted to advertise anything that expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification or discrimination as to lawful source of income such as: • No Section 8 • No Programs 1 That’s what my client wants If a landlord tells you not to present any applications from tenants receiving section 8, you would need to advise the owner you are unable to follow their directive as it is unlawful. 2 That’s what my client wants Any licensee receiving a directive from the owner, landlord, property manager, rental agent or other licensee to discriminate against individuals because of their lawful source of income should advise the individual that such actions are unlawful and you are unable to follow their directive. 3 That’s what my client wants • If you know the landlord will accept an application from a section 8 tenant but will never approve the application, the licensee should terminate their involvement with the discriminating individual or entity. • Document the discriminatory actions of the individual or entity and your termination of any relationship in the event any action is taken by the person(s) being discriminated against. 4 What we do know • It is not unlawful to ask about income, only to discriminate based on lawful sources of income. Housing providers may ask about income, and about the source of income, and require documentation, in order to determine a person’s ability to pay for the housing accommodation, but must accept all lawful sources of income equally 5 What we don’t know • Can landlords or their agent require the tenant to submit to tenant screening that includes credit report, criminal report and history of evictions under the following scenarios (please indicate which reports are permissible): • a) The full rent is paid by a program. • b) Only part of the rent is paid by a program and the balance is the personal responsibility of the tenant. 6 What we don’t know • Can a landlord or their agent require a minimum credit score? • Can an application ask for income information (W-2, pay stub etc.), employment status or must it only ask for “Lawful source of income”? • What kind of proof can be asked for to show the tenant is eligible for a program? 7 What we don’t know • Does a landlord have to accept a voucher from a program instead of a cash security deposit? • Can a landlord require a new tenant to provide the first month’s rent, the last month’s rent, security deposit and broker commission at time of occupancy? • If a broker normally charges one month’s rent as a commission and a program only offers the broker 50% of one month’s rent to the broker for a commission, can the broker refuse to work for less than they normally charge or are they forced to accept the lower amount? Can they ask the tenant to cover the additional 50%? 8 What we don’t know • If the program requires an inspection of the premises and an item fails the inspection (based on the program standards) but is not a violation of any code, law, rule or regulation and is valid to rent, does the landlord have to repair the premises to the standards of the program inspection? • For tenants eligible for a program, regardless of whether the rent is covered partially or in full, are landlords allowed to inquire as to how they will be paying utilities? The concern of landlords is if the program covers the whole rent and they have no other means to pay utilities, are landlords required to accept the tenant and pay the utilities themselves? 9 When will you know • When NYSAR receives a response from DHR, we will send an email to every NYSAR member. FAIR HOUSING: GENDER IDENTITY OR EXPRESSION Executive Law §292 effective 2/24/2019…kind of!!! (35) The term "gender identity or expression" means a person's actual or perceived gender-related identity, appearance, behavior, expression, or other gender-related characteristic regardless of the sex assigned to that person at birth, including, but not limited to, the status of being transgender. Kind Of???? • On January 19, 2016, 9 NYCRR §466.13 added “Gender Identity” as a protected class under the New York Human Rights Law. • The regulation included “Gender Identity” under the definition of “sex”. Executive Law §292 effective 2/24/2019…kind of!!! New: The term "gender identity or expression" means a person's actual or perceived gender-related identity, appearance, behavior, expression, or other gender-related characteristic regardless of the sex assigned to that person at birth, including, but not limited to, the status of being transgender. Old: “Gender identity means having or being perceived as having a gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior or expression whether or not that gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior or expression is different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that person at birth.” NAR Code of Ethics Article 10 • REALTORS® shall not deny equal professional services to any person for reasons of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity. REALTORS® shall not be parties to any plan or agreement to discriminate against a person or persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity. (Amended 1/14) • REALTORS®, in their real estate employment practices, shall not discriminate against any person or persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Executive Law 296 3-b. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any real estate broker, real estate salesperson or employee or agent thereof or any other individual, corporation, partnership or organization for the purpose of inducing a real estate transaction from which any such person or any of its stockholders or members may benefit financially, to represent that a change has occurred or will or may occur in the composition with respect to race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, disability, marital status, or familial status of the owners or occupants in the block, neighborhood or area in which the real property is located, and to represent, directly or indirectly, that this change will or may result in undesirable consequences in the block, neighborhood or area in which the real property is located, including but not limited to the lowering of property values, an increase in criminal or anti- social behavior, or a decline in the quality of schools or other facilities. Executive Law 296 5(c) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any real estate broker, real estate salesperson or employee or agent thereof: (1) To refuse to sell, rent or lease any housing accommodation, land or commercial space to any person or group of persons or to refuse to negotiate for the sale, rental or lease, of any housing accommodation, land or commercial space to any person or group of persons because of the race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, age, disability, marital status, or familial status of such person or persons, or to represent that any housing accommodation, land or commercial space is not available for inspection, sale, rental or lease when in fact it is so available, or otherwise to deny or withhold any housing accommodation, land or commercial space or any facilities of any housing accommodation, land or commercial space from any person or group of persons because of the race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, age, disability, marital status, or familial status of such person or persons.