Is it illegal for a landlord to ask a prospective tenant if they are Jewish? (Upd.)

Mariposa said:
^Update forthcoming (nothing exciting) but to go a bit off topic: Lysis, are you from South Florida? I grew up there. :D
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Yep, born and raised and been through all the fun hurricanes. :-/
 
(no need to quote the OP's entire message)

As far as I know, it is illegal to ask such questions when meeting with a prospective tenant. It is the same as asking "is your girlfriend black" or "are you married," which along with religious faith can be used to discriminate against prospective tenants. I will admit that I am relatively unfamiliar with housing law, but that given that the question was asked at the initial meeting, which was to discuss the prospects of renting an apartment, the legality is very questionable.

For those stating that it's not illegal to ask question, remember that this is an interview of a prospective tenant, and not an informal chat. To put this in perspective, it is illegal for a landlord to even ask what kind of medications a person might be taking.
 
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^ It's illegal to discriminate on the basis of religion and disability. But I have seen no support posted in this thread that it's illegal to simply ask questions that might reveal the applicant's traits in these areas.
 
actually johnny, in my real estate class, they used this as the perfect example of discrimination, using color...a realtor calling to inquire about a home, and the owner asking what color the potential tenants are. no difference really. though intention is obviously what is at heart here. they could easily say they were just going to suggest a church or something along those lines.
 
So perhaps there are statutes or court cases which make the question itself de facto discrimination. But no one has posted a link to such a statute or case. That's what I'm waiting for. :)
 
Johnny1 said:
So perhaps there are statutes or court cases which make the question itself de facto discrimination. But no one has posted a link to such a statute or case. That's what I'm waiting for. :)
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In the interests of actually answering this person's question, I called both the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the Los Angeles County Housing Resource Center and posed the question asked by the OP to the two people I spoke with, and both of the people I talked to said that you cannot ask the question and it is illegal, with the person from Los Angeles County being particularly empathic about it. Call them yourself if you don't believe me:

California Department of Fair Employment and Housing:
http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/contact/Default.aspx

1-800-233-3212 (Within California)
1-510-622-2945 (Outside California)

Los Angeles County Housing Resource Center:
http://www.socialserve.com/Contact.html?ch=LAC

704-334-8722

You don't need a court case to know it's illegal.
 
http://www.housing.org/pdf_docs/Religion Discrimination.pdf

who knows how reputable that is, i just cheated and googled something real quick.

i don't know what to tell you, man, but in our real estate law course, which was taught by a LAWYER SPECIALIZING IN REAL ESTATE we were told that the fair housing act prohibits discrimination based on sex religion race....and because of this it is illegal to ask these questions. can't guide you to any statutes that elaborate on this.
 
i agree that i don't understand how asking the question could make it a violation, as there could be valid reasons not associated with potential discrimination as i mentioned before...

and my miniscule amount of legal knowledge tells me you need mens rea as a component, so you would need to prove the malicious intent.

anyway, good question, hope it gets solved. i have been out of the market thanks to it being utter shit. i have a brilliant broker where i hang my licnese, maybe i will give him a call and see if he has any insight.
 
I believe you both, gomakemeasandwich and DarthMom, and also thank you for your contributions to this forum.

But let me give you an analogy: I know someone who almost died because he was treated for an entire year for the wrong kind of cancer. He was diagnosed with a rare cancer in San Francisco, and received treatment at a special clinic that he didn't respond to. He was dying. He went to Houston to see another specialist, who insisted on rediagnosing everything, including new biopsies. My friend was reluctant to go through that, but he did and found out that he had Hodgkin's disease, not the rare cancer. Now he is in remission.

The lesson is that any professional has to do the work themselves, not rely on what people say. In this situation I want to see the statute or court case. Public employees tend to not know the law (especially cops). I think you are both right in all likelihood, but the deal is not sealed until the legal support is there. Even then, it would require a thorough research project to reveal the law's nuances and exceptions. I'm not in the mood to do this research. ;)
 
^Nor am I... the landlady is on her best behavior these days. We might have had a course of action had we been denied the apartment or if it was harassment, but we do not, and we do not wish to pursue one.

If we are bothered with anything she does in the future, though, I will inform her in no uncertain terms that it is important that she remain in compliance with the law and that I believe my partner was asked a discriminatory question, which I did not know about, and I would have vetoed us renting the apartment.

The neighbors are slowly becoming more friendly as well. We don't bother anyone with music/smoke/any complaints, we follow the rules, and we pay the rent on time.

Johnny1: I'm doing a new writing sample on housing discrimination for which I will have to force myself to hop onto Westlaw and look this stuff up. I will post links to any points/authorities once I have them providing I don't violate any copyrights. I've found a couple employment actions in which individuals were asked questions at job interviews on their religious background and someone less qualified/less experienced (who shared the interviewer's religious beliefs) was chosen. I haven't read the disposition of these actions.

It was foolish and illegal for the landlady to do this, but unless or until she does something worse (which I hope she won't) no reason for me to raise a stink.

Thanks to all who have replied. :)

gomakemeasandwich: yes, if I were to sue, I'd have to first contact the DFEH, but I have nothing to sue over at present... the DFEH would then issue a "right to sue" letter (lol) after which I could file an action had we been denied the apartment.
 
I believe that asking such a question is not illegal in itself unless you can show you were discriminated against in some way because of it. Most companies/people have strict policies about NEVER asking about these types of things because it opens the door to being sued for discrimination.

So, basically.. I think it's not illegal to ask just a bad idea legally because you could try to sue if she turned you down, charged you more, whatever.

However, you being charged more but you have the largest apartment makes sense. A lot of landlords with multiple apartments price things on square footage. Not the whatever room has a view of the river and the little breakfast nook is so cute or whatever, get what I mean?
 
if you didnt get the apt and /or lease then it could be a problemo, however since you do have and are now living in the apt, whats the problem?apparently you agreed to pay the price for the privilidge to live there.
do you have anything against the jewish faith or jews?
just an innocent question?
dawg,
 
Johnny1 said:
I believe you both, gomakemeasandwich and DarthMom, and also thank you for your contributions to this forum.

But let me give you an analogy: I know someone who almost died because he was treated for an entire year for the wrong kind of cancer. He was diagnosed with a rare cancer in San Francisco, and received treatment at a special clinic that he didn't respond to. He was dying. He went to Houston to see another specialist, who insisted on rediagnosing everything, including new biopsies. My friend was reluctant to go through that, but he did and found out that he had Hodgkin's disease, not the rare cancer. Now he is in remission.

The lesson is that any professional has to do the work themselves, not rely on what people say. In this situation I want to see the statute or court case. Public employees tend to not know the law (especially cops). I think you are both right in all likelihood, but the deal is not sealed until the legal support is there. Even then, it would require a thorough research project to reveal the law's nuances and exceptions. I'm not in the mood to do this research. ;)
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I haven't been on lately, and certainly in no mood to deal with one of the few threads here with complicated problems, but anyway...

Your analogy makes a lot of sense and puts things in perspective. Given what you said, I can understand why you'd want a specific statute. I was more short sighted than you with my desire to just answer the question. I don't know if there's a law on the books specifically, but I think I'll look and see out of curiosity and to give a definitive answer if possible. Your analogy was a good one, and you are right in that you have to do the work yourself. Point taken.
 
blackdog said:
if you didnt get the apt and /or lease then it could be a problemo, however since you do have and are now living in the apt, whats the problem?apparently you agreed to pay the price for the privilidge to live there.
do you have anything against the jewish faith or jews?
just an innocent question?
dawg,
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1. I was not aware that my partner had been asked the question until several weeks after we moved in. My partner was not aware that the question was possibly illegal. He thought it was an innocent question, which it might have been. Had I known, I probably wouldn't have signed the lease.

2. I have nothing against anyone who identifies as Jewish by religion or ethnicity. I was merely asking if the question was illegal. For what it's worth, I previously dated and lived with a Jewish man for three years, and all but two of my long-term relationships were with Jewish men. Coincidence? Probably. In any event, I'm no bigot.
 
Mariposa said:
1. I was not aware that my partner had been asked the question until several weeks after we moved in. My partner was not aware that the question was possibly illegal. He thought it was an innocent question, which it might have been. Had I known, I probably wouldn't have signed the lease.

2. I have nothing against anyone who identifies as Jewish by religion or ethnicity. I was merely asking if the question was illegal. For what it's worth, I previously dated and lived with a Jewish man for three years, and all but two of my long-term relationships were with Jewish men. Coincidence? Probably. In any event, I'm no bigot.
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Oh.
 
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