Fair Housing Act: Protections, Complaints, and Remedies

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, financing, and advertising of housing because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability. If you believe you have been discriminated against, you can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development within one year of the last discriminatory act, or file a lawsuit in federal or state court within two years. The statute is codified at 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601–3619 and reaches nearly every housing transaction in the country.

Who the Law Protects

Seven characteristics are protected. Race, color, religion, national origin, and sex have been covered since 1968. Congress added familial status and disability in 1988.¹

Familial status covers any household where a child under 18 lives with a parent, legal guardian, or someone designated by that parent or guardian. Pregnant women and people in the process of gaining legal custody of a child are also protected.² A landlord cannot turn you away for having children, impose special rules on families that don’t apply to other tenants, or steer families toward particular buildings or floors.

Disability means a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a history of such an impairment, or being perceived as having one.² The definition is broad and reaches mobility impairments, hearing or vision loss, chronic illnesses, and mental health conditions. Current illegal drug use is excluded.

The statute prohibits discrimination “because of sex” without further elaboration. Under the prior administration, HUD interpreted that phrase to include sexual orientation and gender identity, drawing on the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County. A January 2025 executive order directed HUD to begin rulemaking to rescind its 2016 Equal Access Rule. Until that rulemaking finishes, the rule technically remains on the books but active enforcement has been suspended. Whether the Fair Housing Act’s “sex” prohibition covers sexual orientation and gender identity is unsettled, and the answer may depend on which federal circuit you live in.

Extra Duties Owed to Tenants with Disabilities

The Act goes further for people with disabilities than for any other protected class. Housing providers must allow reasonable modifications and must make reasonable accommodations.

Reasonable Modifications

A landlord cannot refuse to let a tenant with a disability make physical changes to a unit or common area when those changes are necessary for the person to fully use and enjoy the home. Grab bars, widened doorways, and wheelchair ramps are common examples. In private-market rentals, the tenant generally pays for the modification, and the landlord can require the tenant to restore the interior to its original condition on move-out, minus normal wear and tear.¹ Federally subsidized housing follows different rules; under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the provider typically bears the cost.

Reasonable Accommodations

A reasonable accommodation is a change in rules, policies, or services rather than a physical change to the building. A no-pets policy must yield to a tenant who needs an assistance animal because of a disability. A tenant who uses a wheelchair can request a parking spot closer to the entrance even in a first-come-first-served lot.¹

Assistance Animals

Assistance animals are not limited to trained service dogs. An assistance animal can be any animal that works, provides assistance, or offers emotional support that alleviates effects of a person’s disability. A housing provider can request reliable documentation about the disability and the need for the animal only when neither is obvious. If you use a wheelchair and have a service dog that helps with mobility, the landlord generally cannot ask for paperwork. If you need an emotional support animal for a non-apparent condition, the provider may request supporting information from a healthcare professional.³

What Housing Providers Cannot Do

The Act reaches the whole lifecycle of a housing transaction, from advertising through financing to the terms you live under.

Refuse to rent, sell, or negotiate with you because of a protected characteristic.¹
Charge a higher security deposit, impose stricter lease conditions, or offer inferior services on a protected basis.
Steer buyers or renters toward or away from particular neighborhoods based on race, national origin, or other protected characteristics.⁴
Pressure homeowners to sell by claiming that people of a particular race or background are moving into the area (blockbusting).
Publish advertising that signals a preference or limitation based on a protected characteristic, even in subtle wording.
Deny a mortgage, charge a higher rate, or impose unfavorable loan terms on a protected basis. Appraisers cannot lower a property’s value based on the racial or ethnic makeup of the neighborhood.⁵

The lending prohibition covers mortgages, refinancing, home equity loans, home improvement loans, and homeowners insurance when tied to a residential real estate transaction.⁴

You Don’t Have To Prove Intent

The Supreme Court confirmed in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project (2015) that a policy which appears neutral on its face can still violate the Act if it produces a disproportionate adverse effect on a protected group. A blanket credit-score cutoff, for example, can be challenged if it disproportionately excludes applicants of a particular race and the landlord cannot show the policy is necessary to serve a legitimate business interest. You must identify the specific policy causing the disparity; a statistical gap alone is not enough.⁶

When the Act Does Not Apply

A few narrow exemptions exist. They are smaller than many landlords assume.

The “Mrs. Murphy exemption” applies to buildings with four or fewer units where the owner lives in one of them. Tenant selection in those buildings is not covered by the Act’s main anti-discrimination provisions.⁷

An individual owner who sells or rents a single-family home is exempt only if all three of these apply: the owner does not own more than three single-family homes at once, no real estate broker or agent is used, and no discriminatory advertising is used.

A religious organization can limit the sale, rental, or occupancy of housing it owns or operates on a noncommercial basis to members of the same religion, provided membership itself is not restricted by race, color, or national origin. Private clubs that provide lodging to members as a side activity of their primary purpose have a similar carve-out.⁸

Familial status protections don’t apply to qualifying senior housing. The law recognizes three categories: housing provided under a state or federal program specifically designed for elderly persons; housing intended for and solely occupied by people 62 or older; and housing intended for people 55 or older, where at least 80% of occupied units have at least one resident who is 55 or older and the community publishes and follows policies demonstrating that intent.⁸

Two limits on these exemptions matter. Discriminatory advertising is illegal for every seller, landlord, and agent in every transaction, exempt or not.⁷ And an exemption from federal law does not shield anyone from state or local fair housing laws, which are often broader.

Retaliation Is Separately Illegal

It is illegal to threaten, intimidate, or interfere with anyone exercising their fair housing rights, or with anyone who helps them do so.⁹ If you file a complaint, your landlord cannot retaliate by raising your rent, refusing to renew your lease, or starting eviction proceedings. Witnesses and people who testify on your behalf are covered too. A retaliation claim is separate from the underlying discrimination claim, so even if the original complaint fails, the retaliation can be independently actionable.

How To File a Complaint with HUD

You have one year from the last discriminatory act to file with HUD.¹⁰ Miss that deadline and HUD will not accept your complaint. Document as events happen.

The intake form is HUD Form 903.1. It asks who discriminated (name, address, contact information for the person or business), the full address of the housing involved, a written summary of the discriminatory acts including dates and any witnesses, and the protected class you believe was the reason.¹¹ You can submit online through HUD’s portal or mail the form to the regional Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.¹²

HUD notifies the respondent within 10 days and assigns an investigator to interview both sides and gather evidence. The statute directs HUD to complete the investigation within 100 days, though complex cases often take longer.¹⁰ Throughout the process, HUD will try to broker a voluntary settlement called a conciliation agreement. If HUD finds reasonable cause to believe discrimination occurred, it issues a formal charge, and either party can then elect to have the case heard in federal court instead of before an administrative law judge.

Filing a Private Lawsuit Instead

You do not have to go through HUD. You can file a lawsuit directly in federal or state court within two years of the discriminatory act. There is no requirement to exhaust administrative remedies first, and you can sue even if you’ve already filed a HUD complaint, unless a conciliation agreement has resolved the specific practice.¹³

A court can award actual damages, injunctive relief (such as ordering the landlord to rent you the unit), and punitive damages with no statutory cap. Reasonable attorney fees can be awarded to the prevailing party, which is one reason fair housing attorneys sometimes take cases on contingency.

What You Can Recover

The remedies depend on which path your case takes.

In a HUD administrative hearing, the administrative law judge can award actual damages (including compensation for emotional distress), injunctive relief, and civil penalties. Punitive damages are not available in administrative proceedings. Penalty ceilings are adjusted for inflation and, as most recently published, run up to $25,597 for a first violation, up to $63,991 with one prior violation in the past five years, and up to $127,983 with two or more prior violations in the past seven years.¹⁴

In a private lawsuit, actual damages include out-of-pocket costs like moving expenses and the difference in housing costs, and they include emotional distress, which often accounts for the largest share of damages in these cases. Your own testimony about the emotional impact is generally sufficient, though medical evidence can strengthen the claim. Punitive damages are uncapped.¹³

Separately, when the Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe a person or entity is engaged in a pattern or practice of housing discrimination, the Department of Justice can file its own suit targeting repeat offenders and systemic conduct, such as a management company with a widespread policy of turning away families with children.¹⁵

Deadlines at a Glance

Two deadlines matter most. One year from the last discriminatory act to file with HUD.¹⁰ Two years to file a private lawsuit.¹³ Both clocks run from the occurrence or termination of the discriminatory practice, so if your landlord is engaging in ongoing discrimination — refusing month after month to make a reasonable accommodation, for instance — the clock may not start until the conduct stops. State and local agencies often have their own filing deadlines, which can be shorter or longer than the federal timelines. If you’re close to any of them, file first and refine later.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 3604 – Discrimination in Sale or Rental of Housing
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 3602 – Definitions
3
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Assistance Animals
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U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Fair Housing Rights and Obligations
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 3605 – Discrimination in Residential Real Estate-Related Transactions
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Justia US Supreme Court. Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., 576 US 519 (2015)
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 3603 – Effective Dates of Certain Prohibitions
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 3607 – Religious Organization or Private Club Exemption
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 3617 – Interference, Coercion, or Intimidation
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 3610 – Administrative Enforcement
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U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD-903.1 Report Housing Discrimination
12
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Report Housing Discrimination
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 3613 – Enforcement by Private Persons
14
Federal Register. Adjustment of Civil Monetary Penalty Amounts for 2024
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 3614 – Enforcement by Attorney General