The tenant sued the two real estate giants! The reason is that renting is discriminated against.
1052024/12/4
Being a landlord in America is getting harder and harder. If you are not careful, you will be sued by the tenant!
No, a few days ago, an Indiana resident named Marckus Williams, who is African-American, took two American real estate giants, Progress Residential and Tricon Residential, to court on the grounds that they were "discriminated" when renting a house! Because Marcus himself has a criminal record, the two companies won't rent it to him, and this news has also made headlines on major websites.
The story has to start at the end of 2022. Marcus went to rent a house, and both companies submitted rental applications, but they were rejected. The reason is that he has a criminal record, but Marcus retorts that his credit score is very good, and his criminal record has long been cleared, so he should not be rejected.
He was so excited that he felt that he had changed. But the rejection of renting this house made him feel that he was still his original self!
He also said that having a criminal record in the past does not mean depriving him of the opportunity to turn over a new leaf and turn over a new leaf.
As a result, because of this rejection, he had to live in the car for four weeks, and even spent Christmas and New Year in the car.
The two defendants are very well-connected. One is Progress Housing, which is managed by Don Mullen, a former senior executive of Goldman Sachs.
One of the largest single-family rental housing management companies in the United States, with about 90,000 properties, of which 15,000 are in Georgia. Together with two other companies, this company controls nearly 11% of rented houses in five counties in Atlanta.
Another company, Tricon Housing, is headquartered in California and manages more than 40,000 properties in North America. It was acquired by Blackstone Group at the beginning of this year.
Amy Nelson, the representative of Marcus, is the director of Fair Housing Agency, a non-profit organization. He pointed out that these large capital companies can buy real estate quickly and add 2,000 rental houses every month, but their rental policies are not fair.
Amy also said that the third-party screening system used by the two companies, Progress Residential and Tricon Residential, will automatically reject applicants with criminal records, regardless of whether the criminal records have been cleared. No matter whether the record is accurate or not, no matter whether the applicant meets other lease conditions, as long as he has a criminal record, he will be rejected directly.
This practice may not only lead to the deprivation of everyone's right to fair housing because of record errors, but also have a greater impact on black applicants. Current data show that the proportion of blacks who have been disqualified from renting is 5.32 times that of whites, even though their income and credit scores have met the rental standards.
Amy stressed: We hope that landlords can make decisions based on the current situation of tenants, rather than relying on outdated historical records. Everyone has a chance to turn over a new leaf and start over!
Today, I would like to take this opportunity for Lao Guo to popularize the discrimination against tenants that you may encounter when you are a landlord in the United States. Otherwise, if you are not careful, you will be sued when you are a landlord in the United States.
1. Racial or ethnic discrimination: You just can't refuse people of any particular race or ethnic group. For example, it says "only white tenants are accepted" or there are more harsh conditions for certain races, and the rent and deposit are higher.
2. Sexism: Refuse to rent to tenants with specific gender and sexual orientation. Or make improper demands on female tenants.
3. Family status discrimination: refusing to rent to families with children, or only renting them a specific house.
4. Discrimination against disabled people: Refuse reasonable demands made by disabled people, such as not allowing guide dogs to enter "no pets" houses. Or charge extra maintenance fees for disabled tenants.
5. Religious discrimination: favoring certain religious groups and even directly excluding tenants with specific beliefs.
6. Discrimination of nationality or immigration status: refusing to rent it to foreign-born applicants or non-American citizens, or requiring immigrant tenants to provide more identification documents than other tenants.
7. Economic source discrimination: Refusing to accept legal sources of rent payment, such as government housing subsidies, Section 8, is regarded as discrimination in many states.
8. Geographical or linguistic discrimination: judging the lease qualification based on the tenant's mother tongue or accent, for example, a certain language group is "not suitable for this community".
In 2009, there was a case in which a Jewish couple hung a picture of religious symbols in front of their house, which was resisted and discriminated by the property company. Finally, they sued the property and won the case.
Lao Guo thinks that investing in real estate in the United States requires not only knowing how to invest, but also managing investment houses. If you are not careful, you will be sued!
No, a few days ago, an Indiana resident named Marckus Williams, who is African-American, took two American real estate giants, Progress Residential and Tricon Residential, to court on the grounds that they were "discriminated" when renting a house! Because Marcus himself has a criminal record, the two companies won't rent it to him, and this news has also made headlines on major websites.
The story has to start at the end of 2022. Marcus went to rent a house, and both companies submitted rental applications, but they were rejected. The reason is that he has a criminal record, but Marcus retorts that his credit score is very good, and his criminal record has long been cleared, so he should not be rejected.
He was so excited that he felt that he had changed. But the rejection of renting this house made him feel that he was still his original self!
He also said that having a criminal record in the past does not mean depriving him of the opportunity to turn over a new leaf and turn over a new leaf.
As a result, because of this rejection, he had to live in the car for four weeks, and even spent Christmas and New Year in the car.
The two defendants are very well-connected. One is Progress Housing, which is managed by Don Mullen, a former senior executive of Goldman Sachs.
One of the largest single-family rental housing management companies in the United States, with about 90,000 properties, of which 15,000 are in Georgia. Together with two other companies, this company controls nearly 11% of rented houses in five counties in Atlanta.
Another company, Tricon Housing, is headquartered in California and manages more than 40,000 properties in North America. It was acquired by Blackstone Group at the beginning of this year.
Amy Nelson, the representative of Marcus, is the director of Fair Housing Agency, a non-profit organization. He pointed out that these large capital companies can buy real estate quickly and add 2,000 rental houses every month, but their rental policies are not fair.
Amy also said that the third-party screening system used by the two companies, Progress Residential and Tricon Residential, will automatically reject applicants with criminal records, regardless of whether the criminal records have been cleared. No matter whether the record is accurate or not, no matter whether the applicant meets other lease conditions, as long as he has a criminal record, he will be rejected directly.
This practice may not only lead to the deprivation of everyone's right to fair housing because of record errors, but also have a greater impact on black applicants. Current data show that the proportion of blacks who have been disqualified from renting is 5.32 times that of whites, even though their income and credit scores have met the rental standards.
Amy stressed: We hope that landlords can make decisions based on the current situation of tenants, rather than relying on outdated historical records. Everyone has a chance to turn over a new leaf and start over!
Today, I would like to take this opportunity for Lao Guo to popularize the discrimination against tenants that you may encounter when you are a landlord in the United States. Otherwise, if you are not careful, you will be sued when you are a landlord in the United States.
1. Racial or ethnic discrimination: You just can't refuse people of any particular race or ethnic group. For example, it says "only white tenants are accepted" or there are more harsh conditions for certain races, and the rent and deposit are higher.
2. Sexism: Refuse to rent to tenants with specific gender and sexual orientation. Or make improper demands on female tenants.
3. Family status discrimination: refusing to rent to families with children, or only renting them a specific house.
4. Discrimination against disabled people: Refuse reasonable demands made by disabled people, such as not allowing guide dogs to enter "no pets" houses. Or charge extra maintenance fees for disabled tenants.
5. Religious discrimination: favoring certain religious groups and even directly excluding tenants with specific beliefs.
6. Discrimination of nationality or immigration status: refusing to rent it to foreign-born applicants or non-American citizens, or requiring immigrant tenants to provide more identification documents than other tenants.
7. Economic source discrimination: Refusing to accept legal sources of rent payment, such as government housing subsidies, Section 8, is regarded as discrimination in many states.
8. Geographical or linguistic discrimination: judging the lease qualification based on the tenant's mother tongue or accent, for example, a certain language group is "not suitable for this community".
In 2009, there was a case in which a Jewish couple hung a picture of religious symbols in front of their house, which was resisted and discriminated by the property company. Finally, they sued the property and won the case.
Lao Guo thinks that investing in real estate in the United States requires not only knowing how to invest, but also managing investment houses. If you are not careful, you will be sued!
