For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
AGE. Chronological age, including the status of being a minor.
BONA FIDE. The term BONA FIDE is not to mean the continuation of a practice which, while neutral on its face, tends to or in fact does continue in practice a form of discrimination not sanctioned by this subchapter.
COMPLAINANT. Any person or group of persons, association, agency, partnership, or corporation, public or private, including the city, who claims to have been injured or who believes that he or she will be irrevocably injured under this subchapter.
DISABILITY. A determinable physical or mental condition of an individual or a history of such condition which may result from disease, accident, condition of birth, or functional disorder which constitutes a physical or mental limitation which is unrelated to an individual’s ability to acquire, rent, or maintain property (as defined by the Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act, Public Act 220 of 1976, being M.C.L. §§ 37.1101 et seq.)
DISCRIMINATE or DISCRIMINATION. To make a decision, offer to make a decision, or refrain from making a decision, or to make any difference in treatment of individuals or groups or of the friends or associates of such individual or group based in whole or in part on the race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, national or sectional origin, sex, sexual orientation, age (including emancipated minors), condition of pregnancy, marital status, disability (as defined by the Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act, Public Act 220 of 1976, being M.C.L. §§ 37.1101 et seq.), source of income of the individual or group applying for the purchase, lease, rental, or financing of housing units, real estate, or housing accommodations.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION. The term means any person regularly engaged in the business of lending money or guaranteeing loans on real property.
HOUSING UNIT, FACILITY, OR ACCOMMODATION. Any dwelling unit or facility used for a person to regularly sleep and keep personal belongings, including, but not limited to, a house, apartment, rooming or boarding house, housing cooperative, hotel, motel, mobile home, retirement home, or nursing home.
MARITAL STATUS. The state of being married, unmarried, divorced, or widowed.
PERSON. Includes an association, partnership, agency, organization, or corporation, public or private, including all employees thereof as well as any natural person. The term, when applied to partnerships, associations, and corporations, includes members and officers.
REAL ESTATE BROKER AND AGENT. Any person who, for a fee or other valuable consideration, sells, purchases, exchanges, rents, negotiates, or attempts to negotiate the sale, purchase, exchange, or rental of real property or holds himself or herself out as licensed in the business of selling, purchasing, exchanging, or renting the real property of another.
RESPONDENT. The person, group of persons, association, agency, partnership, or corporation who allegedly commits a violation of this subchapter.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION. Male or female homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality, by preference or practice.
SOLICITATION. The following actions are prohibited only to the extent that they have the effect of committing a discriminatory housing practice under § 93.04(A). This subchapter does not prohibit:
(1) Going in or upon the property of the individual to be solicited, except when requested in writing not to do so by such individual;
(2) Communicating with the individual to be solicited by mail, telephone, telegraph, or messenger service, except when requested in writing not to do so by such individual;
(3) Canvassing in streets or other public places;
(4) Distributing handbills, circulars, cards, or other advertising matter;
(5) Using loud speakers, sound trucks, or other voice-amplifying equipment;
(6) Displaying signs, posters, or other advertising devices upon a real estate office; or
(7) Nondiscriminatory advertising in newspapers of general circulation, magazines, billboards, radio, television, or telephone directories.
SOURCE OF INCOME. Any legal source from which a person obtains money. This does not preclude a good faith business determination involving a person’s ability to meet the financial burdens involved.
TRANSFER. To sell, rent, lease, sublease, or in any other way assign any interest in real property.
(Prior Code, § 93.03) (Ord. D-1454, passed 5-21-1984, effective 5-31-1984)