Do you think housing discrimination may have occurred?
You may not be denied housing anywhere in Virginia on the basis of any of the following (called protected classes):
- Race
- Color
- Religion
- National Origin
- Sex
- Disability
- The presence of children under 18 in the family
- Because you are fifty five or older
Some localities have added additional protected classes
to this list, such as source of income, marital status, or sexual orientation.
If you believe you are having problems for one of these or other reasons,
we'll help you see whether that's an illegal reason where you are trying
to rent or buy.
If you think housing discrimination may have occurred, email: help@phonehome.org
or call HOME at (804) 354-0641 and let the person who answers know that
you need to talk with someone about a possible case of housing discrimination.
Illegal housing discrimination can occur in many different ways. The
following list gives a few examples of the kinds of things that can
happen that may be against the law. If you think that any of the following
actions may be occurring, or that you are being discriminated against
in some other way on the basis of your membership in a protected class,
please call us immediately. You don't need to be sure - we'll help you
check it out.
Remember, however, that there are also legitimate reasons to refuse
to rent or sell a dwelling or make a loan, such as inadequate and stable
income or poor credit history; or to refuse to sell you insurance, such
as the condition of your house.
- Someone is refusing to sell or rent on the basis of one of the characteristics listed above.
- You think you are being offered different terms to buy or rent than the terms offered to others. For example, you may believe you are being charged more, or given access to fewer services.
- You are being given only limited choices of places to live. This may be done, for instance, by only offering to show you houses in one neighborhood, or one part of a subdivision, or discouraging you from looking in certain areas, or assigning you to a particular apartment building or floor.
- You think a house or apartment is really available, but you are being told that it isn't.
- A housing provider indicates that giving him or her sexual favors will get you a better deal; or creates a climate where you are afraid of being sexually harassed.
- A lender refuses to give you a mortgage or charges you more because of your race, or because you are expecting a child, or because of any of the other characteristics listed above.
- A homeowners' insurance company won't give you good insurance (or any insurance) because your house was built before a certain date, or is below whatever value they have established as their minimum.
- An insurance company or a bank won't lend you money or sell insurance because of where the house is.
- The insurance company refuses coverage or wants to charge you more for insurance because of your credit score.
- If you have a disability,
- You are asked about it when you are looking into housing (unless they need to know to make sure you qualify for a special program)
- You are not allowed to make reasonable modifications to a dwelling if you need them in order to have full access (such as installing a ramp) (if the housing is not subsidized, you will have to pay the cost)
- The housing provider refuses to make reasonable changes in policies or procedures to accommodate your disability, such as allowing you to have a guide dog even though there is a no-pets policy or giving you an assigned parking space near your home, even though they don't normally assign parking spaces
- You want to rent a unit in a building that opened after 1991 and it's not accessible
VA
Fair Housing Law
Renter's Rights: The
VA Residential Landlord and Tenant Act
