(a) Subject to the limitations, exceptions, and qualifications provided in R.C. § 4112.024, it shall be an unlawful discriminatory housing practice for any person to do any of the following:
(1) Refuse to sell, transfer, assign, rent, lease, sublease, or finance housing accommodations, refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of housing accommodations, or otherwise deny or make unavailable housing accommodations because of a person being in a protected class or a person's source of income;
(2) Represent to any person that housing accommodations are not available for inspection, sale, or rental, when in fact they are available, and the representation of unavailability is based on the person seeking such housing accommodations being in a protected class or a person's source of income;
(3) Discriminate against any person in the making or purchasing of loans or the provision of other financial assistance for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair, or maintenance of housing accommodations, or any person in the making or purchasing of loans or the provision of other financial assistance that is secured by residential real estate, because of that person being in a protected class, or because the neighborhood in which the housing accommodations are located is composed of one (1) or more protected classes, provided that the person, whether an individual, corporation, or association of any type, lends money as one (1) of the principal aspects or incident to the person's principal business and not only as a part of the purchase price of an owner-occupied residence the person is selling nor merely casually or occasionally to a relative or friend;
(4) Discriminate against any person in the terms or conditions of selling, transferring, assigning, renting, leasing, or subleasing any housing accommodations or in furnishing facilities, services, or privileges in connection with the ownership, occupancy, or use of any housing accommodations, including the sale of fire, extended coverage, or homeowners insurance, because the person's source of income or because the person is in a protected class, or because of the composition, in terms of protected class, of the neighborhood in which the housing accommodations are located;
(5) Discriminate against any person in the terms or conditions of any loan of money, whether or not secured by mortgage or otherwise, for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair, or maintenance of housing accommodations because of a person being in a protected class, or because of the composition, in terms of protected class, of the neighborhood in which the housing accommodations are located;
(6) Refuse to consider without prejudice the combined income of both lawfully married spouses for the purpose of extending mortgage credit to a married couple or either member of a married couple;
(7) Except as otherwise provided in this section, make any inquiry, elicit any information, or use any form of application containing questions or entries concerning a person's protected class status in connection with the sale or lease of any housing accommodations or the loan of any money, whether or not secured by mortgage or otherwise, for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair, or maintenance of housing accommodations;
(8) Include in any deed, land contract, transfer, rental, or lease of housing accommodations any discriminatory restrictive covenant, or honor or exercise, or attempt to honor or exercise, any discriminatory restrictive covenant;
(9) Induce or solicit, or attempt to induce or solicit, a housing accommodations listing, sale, or transaction by representing that a change has occurred or may occur with respect to the protected class composition of the block, neighborhood, or other area in which the housing accommodations are located, or induce or solicit, or attempt to induce or solicit, a housing accommodations listing, sale, or transaction by representing that the presence or anticipated presence of persons of any protected class in the block, neighborhood, or other area will or may have results including, but not limited to, the following:
A. The lowering of property values;
B. A change in the composition, in terms of a protected class, of the block, neighborhood, or other area;
C. An increase in criminal or antisocial behavior in the block, neighborhood, or other area;
D. A decline in the quality of the schools serving the block, neighborhood, or other area.
(10) Discourage or attempt to discourage the purchase by a prospective purchaser of housing accommodations, by representing that any block, neighborhood, or other area has undergone or might undergo a change in composition with respect to a protected class;
(11) Deny any 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 housing accommodations, or discriminate against any person in the terms or conditions of that access, membership, or participation, because of a person being in a protected class;
(12) For any person to discriminate in any manner against any other person because that person has opposed any unlawful practice defined in this chapter, or because that person has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner, in any investigation, proceeding, or hearing under the provisions of this chapter;
(13) Refuse to sell, transfer, assign, rent, lease, sublease, or finance, or otherwise deny or withhold, a burial lot from any person because of a person being in a protected class, or because of any prospective owner or user of the lot being in a protected class;
(14) Discriminate in the sale or rental of, or otherwise make unavailable or deny, housing accommodations to any buyer or renter because of the person's source of income or the protected class status of the buyer or renter, or any person residing in or intending to reside in the housing accommodations after they are sold, rented, or made available;
(15) Discriminate in the terms, conditions, or privileges of the sale or rental of housing accommodations to any person or in the provision of services or facilities to any person in connection with the housing accommodations because of the person's source of income or the protected class status of that person or any person residing in or intending to reside in the housing accommodations after they are sold, rented, or made available;
(16) Except as otherwise provided in this section, make an inquiry of an applicant to determine the protected class status of the applicant for the sale or rental of housing accommodations, or any person residing in or intending to reside in the housing accommodations after they are sold, rented, or made available. The following inquiries may be made of all applicants for the sale or rental of housing accommodations, regardless of the applicant's protected class:
A. An inquiry into an applicant's ability to meet the requirements of ownership or tenancy;
B. An inquiry to determine whether an applicant is qualified for housing accommodations available only to persons with disabilities or persons with a particular type of disability;
C. An inquiry to determine whether an applicant is qualified for a priority available to persons with disabilities or persons with a particular type of disability;
D. An inquiry to determine whether an applicant currently uses a controlled substance in violation of R.C. § 2925.11 or a substantively comparable municipal ordinance;
E. An inquiry to determine whether an applicant at any time has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to any offense, an element of which is the illegal sale, offer to sell, cultivation, manufacture, other production, shipment, transportation, delivery, or other distribution of a controlled substance.
(17) Refuse to permit, at the expense of a person with a disability, reasonable modifications of existing housing accommodations that are occupied or to be occupied by the person with a disability, if the modifications may be necessary to afford the person with a disability full enjoyment of the housing accommodations. This division does not preclude a landlord of housing accommodations that are rented or to be rented to a disabled tenant from conditioning permission for a proposed modification upon the disabled tenant's doing one (1) or more of the following:
A. Providing a reasonable description of the proposed modification and reasonable assurances that the proposed modification will be made in a work-like manner and that any required building permits will be obtained prior to the commencement of the proposed modification;
B. Agreeing to restore at the end of the tenancy the interior of the housing accommodations to the condition they were in prior to the proposed modification, but subject to reasonable wear and tear during the period of occupancy, if it is reasonable for the landlord to condition permission for the proposed modification upon the agreement;
C. Paying into an interest-bearing escrow account that is in the landlord's name, over a reasonable period of time, a reasonable amount of money not to exceed the projected costs at the end of the tenancy of the restoration of the interior of the housing accommodations to the condition they were in prior to the proposed modification, but subject to reasonable wear and tear during the period of occupancy, if the landlord finds the account reasonably necessary to ensure the availability of funds for the restoration work. The interest earned in connection with an escrow account described in this division shall accrue to the benefit of the disabled tenant who makes payments into the account.
(18) Condition permission for a proposed modification of a dwelling unit upon a disabled tenant's payment of a security deposit that exceeds the customarily required security deposit of all tenants of the particular housing accommodations;
(19) Refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when necessary to afford a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling unit, including associated public and common use areas;
(20) Fail to comply with the standards and rules adopted under division (A) of R.C. § 3781.111;
(21) Discriminate against any person in the selling, brokering, or appraising of real property because of the person being in a protected class;
(22) For any person to discriminate in any manner against any other person because that person has opposed any unlawful discriminatory practice defined in this section or because that person has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in any investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this chapter or R.C. §§ 4112.01 to 4112.07;
(23) For any person to knowingly aid or abet the doing of any act declared by this section to be an unlawful discriminatory practice, to knowingly obstruct or prevent any person from complying with this chapter or any order issued under it, or to knowingly attempt directly or indirectly to commit any act declared by this section to be an unlawful discriminatory practice.
(b) Nothing in this chapter shall bar any bona fide private or fraternal organization that, incidental to its primary purpose, owns or operates lodgings for other than a commercial purpose, from limiting the rental or occupancy of the lodgings to its members or from giving preference to its members.
(c) Nothing in this chapter limits the applicability of any reasonable local, state, or federal restrictions regarding the maximum number of occupants permitted to occupy housing accommodations.
(d) Nothing in this chapter prohibits the owners or managers of housing accommodations from implementing reasonable occupancy standards based on the number and size of sleeping areas or bedrooms and the overall size of a dwelling unit, provided that the standards are not implemented to circumvent the purposes of this chapter and are formulated, implemented, and interpreted in a manner consistent with this chapter and any applicable local, state, or federal restrictions regarding the maximum number of occupants permitted to occupy housing accommodations.
(e) Nothing in this chapter requires that housing accommodations be made available to an individual whose tenancy would constitute a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals or whose tenancy would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others.
(f) Nothing in this chapter pertaining to unlawful discriminatory housing practice shall be construed to apply to "housing for older persons" as defined and provided in section 42 U.S.C. 3607 (b)(2), as amended.
(g) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require any person selling or renting property to modify the property in any way or to exercise a higher degree of care for a person with a disability, to relieve any person with a disability of any obligation generally imposed on all persons regardless of disability in a written lease, rental agreement, or contract of purchase or sale, or to forbid distinctions based on the inability to fulfill the terms and conditions, including financial obligations, of the lease, agreement, or contract.
(h) If a residential landlord requires that a prospective tenant or current tenant have a certain threshold level of income, any source of income in the form of a rent voucher or subsidy must be subtracted from the total of the monthly rent prior to calculating if the income criteria have been met.
(i) Whoever violates this section is guilty of unlawful discrimination in housing accommodations.
(Ord. 45-2020. Passed 6-22-20; Ord. 27-2021. Passed 3-23-21.)