(1) It shall be an unlawful housing and real property practice to deny or interfere with the housing accommodation, commercial property or other real property opportunities of an individual or otherwise discriminate based on his or her race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, age, source of income, familial status, or domestic or sexual violence victim status, including, but not limited to, the following:
(a) For the owner or any other person having the right to sell, rent, lease, or approve the sale, rental or lease of any housing accommodation, commercial property or other real property to refuse to sell, rent, or lease or otherwise discriminate in the terms, conditions, or privileges of the sale, rental, or lease of any housing accommodation, commercial property or other real property or in the furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith. 1115
(b) For any lending institution to discriminate against any individual in lending, guaranteeing loans, accepting mortgages or otherwise making available funds for the purchase, acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair or maintenance of any housing accommodation, commercial property or other real property. 1116
(c) For any person to make, print or circulate or cause to be made, printed or circulated any written or oral statement, advertisement, or publication, or to use any form of application for the purchase, rental or lease of housing accommodations, commercial property or other real property, or to make real estate appraisals, financial or credit reports or any record or inquiry in connection with the prospective purchase, rental or lease of housing accommodations, commercial property or real property which expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification or other discrimination, or any intent to make any such limitation, specification or other discrimination. 1117
(d) For any person with the intention of defeating the purposes of this Chapter to sell, lease or transfer any housing accommodation, commercial property or other real property which is the subject of a written verified complaint filed with the Commission.
(e) For any person, after a complaint regarding a housing accommodation, commercial property or other real property has been filed and prior to a final determination by the Commission, to fail to include a notice of the complaint in any subsequent lease or agreement of sale involving that housing accommodation, commercial property or real property.
(f) For any person being the owner, lessee, manager, superintendent, agent or broker of any housing accommodation, commercial property or other real property, or any other person whose duties, whether voluntary or for compensation, relate to the rental, sale or leasing of commercial housing, to establish, announce, or follow a discriminatory policy of denying or limiting, through a quota system or otherwise, the opportunities of any individual or group to obtain such property. 1118
(g) For any person to harass, threaten, harm, damage or otherwise penalize, retaliate or discriminate in any manner against any person because he, she or it has complied with the provisions of this Chapter, exercised his, her or its rights under this Chapter, enjoyed the benefits of this Chapter, or made a charge, testified or assisted in any manner in any investigation, proceeding or hearing hereunder.
(h) For any person subject to this Section to fail to post and exhibit prominently in any place of business where the sale or rental of housing accommodations, commercial property or other real property is carried on, any fair practices notice prepared and made available by the Commission, which the Commission has designated for posting.
(i) For any person to give false or misleading information, written or oral, with regard to the sale or rental of any housing accommodation, commercial property or other real property for the purpose of discriminating, including, but not limited to, representing that a property is not available for inspection, sale or rental when such property is, in fact, so available. 1119
(j) For any person to make any discriminatory distinctions in the location of a housing accommodation, commercial property or other real property, or to make any discriminatory distinctions relating to the time of delivery or the date of availability of such property. 1120
(k) For any person to aid, abet, incite, induce, compel or coerce the doing of any unlawful housing and real property practice or to obstruct or prevent any person from complying with the provisions of this Section or any order issued hereunder or to attempt directly or indirectly to commit any act declared by this Section to be an unlawful housing and real property practice. 1121
(l) For any person selling, renting or leasing housing accommodations, commercial property or other real property, as broker or agent or as an employee or representative of a broker or agent, to refuse or limit service to any person on a discriminatory basis, or to accept or retain a listing of any housing accommodation, commercial property or other real property for sale, rent or lease with an understanding that discrimination may be practiced in connection with the sale, rental or lease thereof. 1122
(2) It shall be an unlawful housing and real property practice for any individual or entity, including but not limited to, any real estate broker or agent, or the employee or representative of any such broker or agent, to solicit any real property for sale or rental, or the listing of any real property for sale or rental, at any time after such individual or entity shall have notice that any owner or other person having the right to sell, rent, lease, or approve the sale, rental or lease of such real property does not desire to sell or rent such real property, or does not desire to be solicited, either by such individual or entity, or by any and all individuals or entities.
(a) The Commission, or such other entity as determined by the Managing Director, is authorized to create and maintain a public list of real property owners who have expressed a desire to not be solicited to sell or rent their real property (Do Not Solicit List). Any real property owner who appears on the Do Not Solicit List may request in writing that the Commission remove their name from the Do Not Solicit List. The Commission will then remove the real property owner's name from the Do Not Solicit List within thirty (30) days of such a request.
(b) The inclusion on this Do Not Solicit List of any real property owner shall be deemed a desire not to sell or rent their real property and a desire not to be solicited under this subsection 9-1108(2).
(3) It shall be an unlawful housing practice for an owner of a property being offered for rental housing, or any other person having the right to rent, lease, or approve the rental or lease of the property, to begin accepting applications for rental housing before providing a uniform written rental screening criteria in a manner that makes such criteria readily available to all potential applicants, such as on a conspicuous place on a rental website or on the premises, if available. The uniform written rental screening criteria shall specify all objective and subjective criteria that will be used to review rental applications, which may include the specific financial, criminal, rental history, and any other criteria used in deciding whether to rent or lease to a prospective tenant. The failure to provide uniform written rental screening criteria as provided in this subsection may be considered evidence of an unlawful housing practice under subsection (1). 1123
(4) Except as provided in subsections (4)(a) and (4)(b), below, it shall be an unlawful housing practice for the owner of the property being offered for rental housing, or any other person having the right to rent, lease or approve the rental or lease of the property, to reject an application for rental housing without providing the applicant a written or electronic document setting forth a plain statement of all reasons for the denial of the application, and which, to the extent permitted by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq., includes a copy of any documents obtained from a third party for the purpose of establishing the applicant's eligibility or otherwise deciding whether to rent the unit to the applicant, within three business days of the rejection. The failure to comply with this subsection may be considered evidence of an unlawful housing practice under subsection (1). 1124
(a) Rejection of Applications. An application for rental housing shall not be considered rejected for the purpose of this subsection (4) unless the applicant was denied after consideration of the applicant's specific eligibility and suitability for the housing or an applicable application fee was collected.
(b) Application to Publicly-Assisted Rental Housing. Any rental housing which is owned, operated, subsidized or financed by a program of the federal, state or local government, or which is otherwise governed by a deed restriction or indenture related to affordability of the rental housing, is exempt from the requirements of this subsection (4), provided that the rental of a particular rental housing unit shall not be excluded from the provisions of subsection (4) because of a tenant-based subsidy.
Notes
| 1114 | Amended, 1967 Ordinances, pp. 1328, 1332; amended, 1969 Ordinances, p. 1231; amended, 1970 Ordinances, p. 150; amended, 1972 Ordinances, p. 687; subsection (1)(m) deleted and subsection (2) added, Bill No. 200544 (approved December 1, 2020), effective January 30, 2021. |
| Section 9-1108 - Delayed Amendment | This section has been amended by Bill No. 240060 (approved September 4, 2024), effective December 4, 2024. |
| 1115 | Amended, 1980 Ordinances, p. 556; amended, 1982 Ordinances, p. 1476; amended, Bill No. 010719 (approved May 29, 2002). |
| 1116 | Amended, 1980 Ordinances, p. 556; amended, 1982 Ordinances, p. 1476; amended, Bill No. 010719 (approved May 29, 2002). |
| 1117 | Amended, 1980 Ordinances, p. 556; amended, 1982 Ordinances, p. 1476; amended, Bill No. 010719 (approved May 29, 2002). |
| 1118 | Amended, 1980 Ordinances, p. 556; amended, 1982 Ordinances, p. 1476; amended, Bill No. 010719 (approved May 29, 2002). |
| 1119 | Amended, 1980 Ordinances, p. 556; amended, 1982 Ordinances, p. 1476; amended, Bill No. 010719 (approved May 29, 2002). |
| 1120 | Amended, 1980 Ordinances, p. 556; amended, 1982 Ordinances, p. 1476; amended, Bill No. 010719 (approved May 29, 2002). |
| 1121 | Amended, 1980 Ordinances, p. 556. |
| 1122 | Amended, 1980 Ordinances, p. 556; amended, 1982 Ordinances, p. 1476; amended, Bill No. 010719 (approved May 29, 2002). |
| 1123 | Added, Bill No. 210329-A (approved July 15, 2021), effective October 13, 2021 |
| 1124 | Added, Bill No. 210329-A (approved July 15, 2021), effective October 13, 2021 |