The other day I had a landlord say to me, “We’re really looking for a family to lease our home. We don’t want multiple single, younger individual tenants or room mates and prefer just leasing to a nice family.”
While I can see the fear an Owner might have with leasing to multiple people, Landlords must adhere to very basic landlord tenant laws here in Seattle:
Fair Housing Laws
It is illegal for landlords to select one rental application over another on the basis of race, color, national heritage, religion, gender, disability, or familial status. That might sound like an simple law to follow, but it’s easier to violate than you might suspect. For example, if you advertise for a tenant in your local Catholic circular, and nowhere else, you’re in violation of the Fair Housing Act. Or if you have two rental applications, one from an older couple whose children have already moved out and who have slightly lower income, and one from a family of five with several young children who have slightly larger income, you can be found guilty of discrimination if you chose the older couple. Clearly, the older couple is far less likely to cause damage and substantial wear and tear on the rental property, but you’ll need to find a different reason to accept their rental application (for example, maybe they have better credit, or perhaps have a cleaner criminal or eviction history).
Many Things to Look Out For
Besides Fair Housing Laws we also need to consider and look out for Security and Pet deposits, Lead disclosures and all other disclosures along with proper background and criminal checks. There are many things to look out for, and if you’re not a “Pro or Guru” consider looking at Seattle Rental Group as a service or a resource for your possible leasing solution.