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(A) Unlawful housing practices; sale or rental and advertising in connection therewith. Except as provided in § 92.05, it shall be unlawful and a discriminatory housing practice for an owner, or any other person engaging in a real estate transaction, or for a real estate broker, as defined in § 92.03, because of race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, marital status, familial status, handicap or age:
(1) To refuse to engage in a real estate transaction with a person or to otherwise make unavailable or deny housing to any person;
(2) To discriminate against a person in the terms, conditions or privileges of a real estate transaction or in the furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith;
(3) To refuse to receive or to fail to transmit a bona fide offer to engage in a real estate transaction from a person;
(4) To refuse to negotiate for a real estate transaction with a person;
(5) To represent to a person that housing is not available for inspection, sale, rental or lease when, in fact, it is so available, or to fail to bring a property listing to such person’s attention, or to refuse to permit him or her to inspect the housing;
(6) To steer any person away from or to any housing;
(7) To make, print, publish, circulate, post, mail or cause to be made, printed, published or circulated, any notice, statement, advertisement or sign, or to use a form of application or photograph for a real estate transaction or, except in connection with a written affirmative action plan, to make a record of oral or written inquiry in connection with a prospective real estate transaction, which indicates directly or indirectly an intent to make a limitation, specification or discrimination with respect thereto;
(8) To offer, solicit, accept, use or retain a listing of housing with the understanding that a person may be discriminated against in a real estate transaction or in the furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith;
(9) To induce or attempt to induce any person to transfer an interest in any housing by representations regarding the existing or potential proximity of housing owned, used or occupied by any person protected by the terms of this chapter;
(10) To make any misrepresentations concerning the listing for sale or rental, or the anticipated listing for sale or rental or the sale or rental of any housing in any area of the city for the purpose of inducing or attempting to induce any such listing or any of the above transactions;
(11) To retaliate or discriminate in any manner against any person because of his or her opposing 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 or conference under this chapter;
(12) To aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce any person to engage in any of the practices prohibited by the provisions of this chapter, or to obstruct or prevent any person from complying with the provisions of this chapter, or any conciliation agreement entered into thereunder;
(13) By canvassing to compel any unlawful practices prohibited by the provisions of this chapter;
(14) Otherwise to deny to, or withhold, any housing accommodation from a person;
(15) To promote, induce, influence or attempt to promote, induce or influence by the use of postal cards, letters, circulars, telephone, visitation or any other means, directly or indirectly, a property owner, occupant or tenant to list for sale, sell, remove from, lease, assign, transfer or otherwise dispose of any housing by referring as a part of the process or pattern of indicating neighborhood unrest, community tension or fear of racial, color, religious, nationality or ethnic change in any street, block, neighborhood or any other area, to the race, color, religion, neighbors, tenants or other prospective buyers of any housing; or
(16) To place a sign or display any other device either purporting to offer for sale, lease assignment, transfer or other disposition or tending to lead to the belief that a bona fide offer is being made to sell, lease, assign, transfer or otherwise dispose of any housing that is not in fact available or offered for sale, lease, assignment, transfer or other disposition.
(B) Unlawful housing practices; financing. It shall be unlawful and a discriminatory housing practice for any lending institution to deny a loan or other financial assistance to a person applying therefor for the purpose of purchasing, constructing, improving, repairing or maintaining housing, or to discriminate against such person in the fixing of the amount, interest rate, duration or other terms or conditions of such loan or other financial assistance, because of the race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, marital status, familial status, handicap or age of such person or of any other person associated with such person in connection with such loan or other assistance, or of the present or prospective owners, lessees, tenants or occupants of the housing in relation to which such loan or other financial assistance is to be made or given; provided that nothing contained in this division (B) shall impair the scope or effectiveness of the exceptions contained in § 92.05.
(C) Unlawful housing practices; brokerage services. It shall be unlawful and a discriminatory housing practice to deny any person access to or membership or participation in any multiple listing service, real estate brokers organization or other service, organization or facility related to the business of selling or renting housing, or to discriminate against such person in the terms or conditions of such access, membership or participation because of race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, marital status, familial status or age.
(1998 Code, § 94.04) (Ord. 336, passed 1-14-1996) Penalty, see § 92.99
(A) Nothing contained in § 92.04 shall prohibit a religious organization, association or society, or any nonprofit charitable or educational institution or organization operated, supervised or controlled by or in conjunction with a religious organization, association or society, from limiting or from advertising the sale, rental or occupancy of housing which it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose to persons of the same religion, or from giving preference to such persons, nor shall anything in this chapter prohibit a private club not in fact open to the public, which as an incident to its primary purpose or purposes, provides lodgings which it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose, from limiting the rental or occupancy of such lodgings to its members or from giving preference to its members.
(1) Any single-family house sold or rented by an owner; provided, that such private individual owner does not own more than three such single-family houses at any one time; provided, further, that in the case of the sale of any such single-family house by a private individual owner not residing in such house at the time of such sale or who was not the most recent resident of such house prior to such sale, the exemption granted by this division (B)(1) shall apply only with respect to one such sale within any 24-month period; provided, further, that does not own any interest in, nor is there owned or reserved on such owner’s behalf, under any express or voluntary agreement, title to or any rights to all or a portion of the proceeds from the sale or rental of, more than three such single family houses at any one time; provided, further, that the owner sells or rents such housing:
(a) Without the use in any manner of the sales or rental facilities or the sale or rental services of any real estate broker, agent, salesperson or of such renting housing, or of any employee or agency of any such broker, agent, salesperson or person; and
(b) Without the publication, posting or mailing, after notice, of any advertisement or written notice in violation of § 92.04(A)(7), but nothing in this provision shall prohibit the use of attorneys, escrow agents, abstractors, title companies and other such professional assistance as necessary to perfect or transfer the title.
(2) Rooms or units in housing containing living quarters occupied or intended to be occupied by no more than four families living independently of each other, if the owner actually maintains and occupies one of such living quarters as such owner’s residence, provided that the owners sells or rents such rooms or units:
(a) Without the use in any manner of the sales or rental services of any real estate broker, agent or salesperson, or of such facilities or services of any person in the business of selling or renting housing, or of any employee or agency of any such broker, agent, salesperson or person; and
(b) Without the publication, posting or mailing, after notice, in violation of § 92.04(A)(7), but nothing in this provision shall prohibit the use of attorneys, escrow agents, abstractors, title companies and other such professional assistance as necessary to perfect or transfer the title.
(3) For the purpose of this division (B), a person shall be deemed to be in the business of selling or renting housing if:
(a) He or she has, within the preceding 12 months, participated as principal, other than in the sale of his or her own personal residence, in providing sales or rental facilities or sales or rental services in three or more transactions involving the sale or rental of any housing or any interest therein;
(b) He or she has, within the preceding 12 months, participated as agent, other than in the sale of his or her own personal residence, in providing sales or rental facilities or sales or rental services in two or more transactions involving the sale or rental of any housing or any interest therein; or
(c) He or she is the owner of any housing designed or intended for occupancy by, or occupied by, five or more families.
(4) Nothing in § 92.04 shall be construed to:
(a) Bar any person from restricting sales, rentals, leases or occupancy, or from giving preference to persons of a given age for bona fide housing intended solely for the elderly or bona fide housing intended solely for minors;
(b) Make it an unlawful act to require that a person have legal capacity to enter into a contract or lease;
(c) Bar any person from advertising or from refusing to sell or rent any housing which is planned exclusively for, occupied exclusively by, individuals of one sex, to any individual of the opposite sex;
(d) Bar any person from selling, renting or advertising any housing which is planned exclusively for, and occupied exclusively by, unmarried individuals to unmarried individuals only;
(e) Bar any person from advertising or from refusing to sell or rent any housing which is planned exclusively for married couples without children or from segregating families with children to special units of housing; or
(f) Bar any person from refusing a loan or other financial assistance to any person whose life expectancy, according to generally accepted mortality tables, is less than the term for which the loan is requested.
(1998 Code, § 94.05) (Ord. 336, passed 1-14-1996)
(A) Council to appoint. The authority and responsibility for administering this chapter shall be vested in the City Council who shall appoint an Administrator.
(B) General powers and duties. The Administrator shall:
(1) Receive written complaints as hereinafter provided in § 92.07 relative to alleged unlawful acts under this chapter when a complaint seeks the Administrator’s good offices to conciliate;
(2) Upon receiving written complaint, make such investigations as the Administrator deems appropriate to ascertain facts and issues;
(3) Utilize methods of persuasion, conciliation and mediation or information adjustment of grievances;
(4) Establish, administer/review programs at the request of the Mayor and make reports on such programs to the City Council;
(5) Bring to the attention of the City Council items that may require the City Council’s notice or action to resolve;
(6) Render to the City Council annual written reports of his or her activities under the provisions of this chapter along with such comments and recommendations as he or she may choose to make; and
(7) Cooperate with and render technical assistance to federal, state, local and other public and private agencies, organizations and institutions which are formulating or carrying on programs to prevent or eliminate the unlawful discriminatory practices covered by the provisions of this chapter.
(C) Determination of probable cause. If after fully processing the complaint in the manner hereafter provided, the Administrator determines that there is probable cause to believe that there has been a violation of the provisions of this chapter, he or she shall refer the matters along with the facts he or she has gathered in his or her investigations, to the proper county, state or federal authorities for appropriate legal action.
(D) Promulgation of forms and regulations. The Administrator shall promulgate, publish and distribute the necessary forms, rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this chapter.
(1998 Code, § 94.06) (Ord. 336, passed 1-14-1996)
(A) A person who claims that another person has committed a discriminatory housing practice against him or her may report that offense to the Administrator by filing an informal complaint within 45 days after the date of the alleged discriminatory housing practice and not later.
(B) The Administrator shall treat a complaint referred by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development or the Attorney General of the United States under the Fair Housing Act of 1968, Pub. L. No. 90-284, being 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601 et seq., as an informal complaint filed under division (A) above.
(C) An informal complaint must be in writing, verified or affirmed, on a form to be supplied by the Administrator and shall contain the following:
(1) Identity and address of the respondent;
(2) Date of offense and date of riling the complaint;
(3) General statement of facts of the offense, including the basis of the discrimination (race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, marital status, familial status, handicap or age); and
(4) Name and signature of the complainant.
(D) Each complaint shall be held in confidence by the Administrator unless and until the complainant and the respondent(s) consent in writing that it shall be made public.
(E) Within 15 days after the filing of the informal complaint, the Administrator shall transmit a copy of the same to each respondent named therein by certified mail, return receipt requested. Thereupon, the respondents may file a written, verified informal answer to the informal complaint within 20 days of the date of the receipt of the informal complaint.
(F) An informal complaint or answer may be amended at any time, and the Administrator shall furnish a copy of each amended informal complaint or answer to the respondent(s) complaint, respectively, as promptly as practicable.
(G) The Administrator shall assist complainants and respondents when necessary in the preparation and filing of informal complaints or answers or any amendments thereto.
(H) The Administrator shall advise complainants of their rights and options provided in F.S. § 760.34.
(1998 Code, § 94.07) (Ord. 336, passed 1-14-1996)
(A) Within 30 days after the filing of an informal complaint, the Administrator shall make such investigation as he or she deems appropriate to ascertain facts and issues. If the Administrator shall deem that there are reasonable grounds to believe that a violation has occurred and can be resolved by conciliation, he or she shall attempt to conciliate the matter by methods of initial conference and persuasion with all interested parties such representatives as the parties may choose to assist them. Conciliation conferences shall be informal and nothing said or done in the course of the informal conference with the individuals to resolve the dispute may be public or used as evidence in a subsequent proceeding by either party without the written consent of both the complainant and the respondent(s). The Administrator or employee of the Administrator who shall make public any information in violation of this provision shall be deemed guilty of a violation of a city ordinance and shall be subject to penalty as set forth in § 92.99.
(B) If the parties desire to conciliate, the terms of the conciliation shall be reduced to writing in the form approved by the Administrator and must be signed and verified by the complainant and respondent(s) and approved by the Administrator. The conciliation agreement shall be for conciliation purposes only, and shall not constitute an admission by any party that the law has been violated.
(C) If the Administrator deems that there is not probable cause to believe that the alleged discriminatory housing practice has been committed, the Administrator shall take no further action with respect to the alleged offense.
(D) If the Administrator, with respect to any matter, involves a contravention of this chapter by failure to conciliate a complaint after the parties, in good faith, have attempted such conciliation; or determining that the violation alleged in the complaint cannot be resolved by conciliation, he or she shall notify both the complainant and the respondent(s) within 30 days of the failure or the determination, and he or she shall proceed as provided in § 92.06(C).
(1998 Code, § 94.08) (Ord. 336, passed 1-14-1996)
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