What are the criteria for determining if a landlord has violated Fair Housing Law?

Fair Housing Law is the law that prohibits discrimination in housing based on the characteristics of a person. In Washington, the law that protects people from discrimination based on their race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, source of income or familial status is called the Washington State Fair Housing Act. In order to determine if a landlord has violated the Fair Housing Act, it is important to look at the criteria that the law covers. This includes whether the landlord discriminated against someone based on any of the listed characteristics mentioned above. For example, if a landlord decides to deny a rental property to someone because of their race or religion, this would be considered a violation of the Fair Housing Act. In addition to looking for discrimination, it is important to look for any other actions that can be considered discriminatory. This includes any “steering” towards or away from certain communities, setting different rental prices for certain groups, enforcing certain rules that can be considered discriminatory, and denying services that are normally offered to other tenants. If you feel that a landlord has discriminated against you, you can file a complaint with the Washington State Department of Commerce. They will investigate the complaint and determine whether or not a violation of the Fair Housing Act has occurred. If it has, they will take disciplinary action against the landlord.

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What are the criteria for determining if a landlord has violated Fair Housing Law?

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