Under the Fair Housing Act, the statute of limitations gives you one year to file an administrative complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and two years to file a lawsuit in federal or state court. The two deadlines run on separate tracks, and the one that matters most depends on how you decide to pursue your claim. Miss either window and that route almost certainly closes, so it’s worth knowing exactly when each clock starts and what can pause it.
The One-Year Deadline to File With HUD
You have one year from the date the discriminatory act occurred or ended to file a complaint with HUD or with a state or local fair housing agency HUD has certified to handle complaints.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3610 – Administrative Enforcement Preliminary Matters The complaint can cover discrimination in renting, selling, financing, or any other housing-related activity based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability.2eCFR. 24 CFR Part 103 – Fair Housing Complaint Processing
Filing with HUD costs nothing. If the case advances to a HUD administrative hearing, HUD assigns attorneys to represent you at no charge, which makes this route workable when hiring a private lawyer isn’t.3U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Learn About FHEO’s Process to Report and Investigate
The Two-Year Deadline to File a Lawsuit
You can skip HUD entirely and sue in federal or state court within two years of the discriminatory act or the end of an ongoing discriminatory practice.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3613 – Enforcement by Private Persons There is no requirement to exhaust administrative remedies first.5U.S. Department of Justice. The Fair Housing Act
The tradeoff is cost. A federal civil filing fee runs $405, and you pay your own attorney unless you win and the court awards fees.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3613 – Enforcement by Private Persons What you can recover is broader: actual damages, punitive damages with no statutory cap, injunctive relief to stop the practice, and, if you prevail, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.
One useful wrinkle. If someone breaches a conciliation agreement that resolved an earlier HUD complaint, the two-year lawsuit clock runs from the date of the breach, not the original discriminatory act.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3613 – Enforcement by Private Persons A landlord who promises to stop discriminating and then goes right back to it resets the clock.
When the Clock Starts Running
For both deadlines, time begins the day the discriminatory act “occurred or terminated.” That phrasing matters, because discrimination isn’t always a single event.
Ongoing Discrimination Extends the Window
When discrimination is a pattern of related acts rather than one incident, the clock starts on the last act. HUD’s regulations spell this out: for multiple acts or an ongoing pattern, the complaint only needs to arrive within one year of the most recent incident.6eCFR. 24 CFR Part 103 – Fair Housing Complaint Processing – Section: 103.35 A landlord who refuses maintenance requests month after month based on a tenant’s national origin creates a continuing violation, and the year starts after the last refusal.
What If You Didn’t Know?
Federal courts are split on what happens when you discover the discrimination long after it happened. Some apply a discovery rule, delaying the clock until you knew or reasonably should have known. Others read the statute strictly: the clock starts when the act occurs, whether you were aware or not. The Ninth Circuit has taken the strict approach; the Sixth Circuit has recognized the discovery rule in some situations. No Supreme Court decision resolves the split, so the answer depends on where you’d file. If you suspect discrimination older than two years but only recently learned of it, talk to a fair housing attorney in your jurisdiction before assuming the door is closed.
What Pauses the Clock
Filing With HUD Freezes the Lawsuit Deadline
The two-year lawsuit clock pauses automatically while a HUD complaint about the same act is pending. Time spent waiting on HUD doesn’t count against your two years, and once HUD formally closes the case, the clock resumes with whatever time was left.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3613 – Enforcement by Private Persons
An example. The discriminatory act happens January 1, 2025. You file a HUD complaint on July 1, 2025, so six months of the two-year period have already run. While HUD investigates, the clock is frozen. If HUD closes the case on March 1, 2026, you still have 18 months from that date to sue. One restriction to keep in mind: you cannot run a private lawsuit and a HUD administrative proceeding on the same claim at the same time.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3613 – Enforcement by Private Persons
Equitable Tolling Is Rare
Courts can pause the clock when the other side actively prevented you from filing. That usually requires proof of fraud, deliberate concealment, or similar affirmative misconduct that kept you from discovering or pursuing your claim. Not knowing about the deadline is not enough. Federal courts treat equitable tolling as an extraordinary remedy and grant it sparingly.
The 20-Day Window After HUD Issues a Charge
If HUD finds reasonable cause and issues a formal charge, a short and unforgiving clock starts. You, the respondent, or any aggrieved person on whose behalf the complaint was filed has 20 days to elect federal court instead of a HUD administrative law judge.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3612 – Enforcement by Secretary If anyone elects, the Attorney General must file a civil action in federal district court within 30 days.
The choice affects what you can win. A HUD administrative law judge can award compensatory damages and injunctive relief, with civil penalties capped by statute and inflation-adjusted regulation.8eCFR. 24 CFR 180.671 – Assessing Civil Penalties for Fair Housing Act Cases Federal court has no cap on compensatory or punitive damages. If no one elects within 20 days, the case stays with the HUD administrative law judge by default.
Retaliation Starts a Fresh Clock
The Fair Housing Act separately makes it illegal to threaten, intimidate, or interfere with anyone exercising their fair housing rights, including filing a complaint or cooperating with an investigation.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3617 – Interference, Coercion, or Intimidation Retaliation is itself a discriminatory housing practice, and the same one-year and two-year deadlines apply, running from the date of the retaliatory act. A retaliatory eviction notice served eight months after your original complaint opens its own filing window.
State and Local Deadlines May Give You More Time
Many states, cities, and counties have their own fair housing laws with their own filing deadlines, and some are longer than the federal one-year and two-year windows. Missing a federal deadline doesn’t necessarily end your options. Some jurisdictions allow two or three years for an administrative complaint. Because these laws vary, anyone approaching a federal deadline should check what a state or local agency still offers. A local fair housing organization or attorney can tell you which additional protections apply where you live.