The general purposes of this chapter are:
(A) To provide for execution within the town of the policies embodied in the Civil Rights Act of 1968, Title VIII, being 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601 et seq., as amended; and
(B) To safeguard all individuals within the town from discrimination in housing opportunities because of race, color, religion, national origin or sex; thereby to protect their interest in personal dignity and freedom from humiliation; to secure the town against domestic strife and unrest which would menace its democratic institutions; to preserve the public health and general welfare; and to further the interests, rights and privileges of individuals within the town.
(Ord. passed 10-1-1979)
For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
DISCRIMINATION. Any direct or indirect act or practice of exclusion, distinction, restriction, segregation, limitation, refusal, denial or any other act or practice of differentiation or preference in the treatment of a person or persons because of race, color, religion, national origin or sex, or the aiding, abetting, inciting, coercing or compelling thereof.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION. Includes any person, as defined herein, engaged in the business of lending money or guaranteeing losses.
HOUSING ACCOMMODATION. Includes improved and unimproved property and means a building, structure, mobile home or trailer, or portion thereof, which is used or occupied, or is intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied as a home or residence of one or more individuals.
OWNER. Includes a lessee, sublessee, co-tenant, assignee, managing agent or other person having the right of ownership or possession, or the right to sell, rent or lease any housing accommodation.
PERSON. Includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint ventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations and all other groups or combinations.
REAL ESTATE BROKER or REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON. Any individual, whether licensed or not, who on behalf of others for a fee commission, salary or other valuable consideration, or who with the intention or expectation of receiving or collecting the same, lists, sells, purchases, exchanges, rents or leases any real estate or the improvements thereon, including options, or who negotiates or attempts to negotiate such an activity; or who negotiates or attempts to negotiate a loan, secured by a mortgage or other encumbrance upon a transfer of real estate; or who is engaged in the business of charging an advance fee or contracting for collection of a fee in connection with a contract whereby he or she undertakes to promote the sale, purchase, exchange, rental or lease of real estate through its listing in a publication issued primarily for that purpose; or an individual employed by or acting on behalf of any of these.
REAL PROPERTY. Includes buildings, structures, real estate, lands, tenements, leaseholds, cooperatives, condominiums and hereditaments, corporeal and incorporeal, or any interest in the above.
(Ord. passed 10-1-1979)
It shall be an unlawful practice for a real estate owner or operator or for a real estate broker, real estate salesperson or any individual employed by or acting on behalf of any of the above:
(A) To refuse to sell, purchase, rent or lease, or deny to or withhold any housing accommodation from a person because of his or her race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex or place of birth;
(B) To discriminate against a person in the terms, conditions or privileges of the sale, purchase, rental or lease of any housing accommodation, or in the furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith;
(C) To refuse to receive or transmit a bona fide offer to sell, purchase, rent or lease any housing accommodation from or to a person because of his or her race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex or place of birth;
(D) To refuse to negotiate for the sale, purchase, rental or lease of any housing accommodation to a person because of his or her race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex or place of birth;
(E) To represent to a person that any housing accommodation is not available for inspection, sale, purchase, rental or lease when in fact it is so available, or to refuse to permit a person to inspect any housing accommodation because of his or her race, color, religion, national origin, sex or place of birth;
(F) To make, publish, print, circulate, post or mail, or cause to be made, published, printed, circulated, posted or mailed, any notice, statement or advertisement, or to announce a policy, or to sign or to use a form of application for the sale, purchase, rental, lease or financing of any housing accommodation, or to make a record of inquiry in connection with the prospective sale, purchase, rental, lease or financing of any housing accommodation, which indicates any discrimination or any intent to make a discrimination;
(G) To offer, solicit, accept or use a listing of any housing accommodation for sale, purchase, rental or lease with the understanding that a person may be subjected to discrimination in connection with that sale, purchase, rental or lease, or in the furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith;
(H) To induce directly or indirectly, or attempt to induce directly or indirectly, the sale, purchase, rental or lease, or the listing of any of the above, of any housing accommodation by representing that the presence or anticipated presence of persons of any particular race, color, religion, sex or national origin or place of birth in the area to be affected by that sale, purchase, rental or lease will or may result in either:
(1) The lowering of property values in the area;
(2) An increase in criminal or antisocial behavior in the area; or
(3) A decline in the quality of the schools serving the area.
(I) To make any misrepresentations concerning the listing for sale, purchase, rental or lease, or the anticipated listing for any of the above, or the sale, purchase, rental or lease, of any housing accommodation in any area for the purpose of inducing or attempting to induce any such listing or any of the above transactions;
(J) To engage in, or hire to be done, or to conspire with others to commit acts or activities of any nature, the purpose of which is to coerce, cause panic, incite unrest or create or play upon fear, with the purpose of either discouraging or inducing, or attempting to induce, the sale, purchase, rental or lease, or the listing for any of the above, of any housing accommodation;
(K) To retaliate or discriminate in any manner against a person because he or she has opposed a practice declared unlawful by this chapter, or because he or she has filed a complaint, testified, assisted or participated in any manner in any investigation, proceeding, hearing or conference under this chapter;
(L) To aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce any person to engage in any of the practices prohibited by this chapter, or to obstruct or prevent any person from complying with the provisions of this chapter, or any order issued thereunder;
(M) By canvassing, to commit any unlawful practices prohibited by this chapter;
(N) Otherwise to deny to, or withhold any housing accommodation from a person because of his or her race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex or place of birth;
(O) For any bank, building and loan association, insurance company or other corporation, association, firm or enterprise whose business consists, in whole or in part, in the making of commercial real estate loans, to deny a loan or other financial assistance to a person applying therefor for the purpose of purchasing, constructing, improving, repairing or maintaining a dwelling, or to discriminate against him or her in the fixing of the amount, interest rate, duration or other terms or conditions of this type of loan or other financial assistance, because of the race, color, religion, sex or national origin of that person, or of any person associated with him or her in connection with the loan or other financial assistance or the purposes of the loan or other financial assistance, or of the present or prospective owners, lessees, tenants or occupants of the dwelling or dwellings in relation to which the loan or other financial assistance is to be made or given; or
(P) To deny any qualified person access to or membership or participation in any multiple-listing service, real estate brokers’ organization or other service, organization or facility relating to the business of selling or renting dwellings, or to discriminate against him or her in the terms or conditions of this type of access, membership or participation, on account of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
(Ord. passed 10-1-1979) Penalty, see § 93.99
Loading...