LEGAL UPDATE
of bedrooms and whether there are any
bonus rooms such as studies or dens that
could be utilized as a bedroom.
Lawsuits for violations of occupancy
standards have recently taken off again in
the Midwest United States. It may be that in
the nineteen years since the Keating
Memorandum’s adoption there has been
another generation of owners and managers
introduced to the industry who are neither
aware of nor familiar with the limitations
under Keating, which basically state that the
legal limitation is “two persons plus a child
under the age of [insert number] per
bedroom,” with a minimum of “two years”
being the age of the child to place you in a
safe harbor.
If you are not familiar with the
Keating Memorandum, access it here:
https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/DOC_
7780.PDF and conduct a Keating audit.
Children’s Rules:
Children’s rules continue to be a
basis for lawsuits, most recently in Federal
Court in the Rio Grande Valley; specifically,
improper age limitations for use of the pool,
workout room and other amenities may be
the basis for a lawsuit. If your company has
not created a consistent, non-discriminatory
policy regarding age limitations, you should
do so now.
Serious consequences concerning
children’s rules sometimes occur after
takeover of a property; you must carefully
review during the due diligence period what
rules are in place before takeover and if they
are in any way discriminatory or
inconsistent,
or,
the
rules
have
inconsistencies with the lease or your policy,
you should immediately revise the rules to
place you in a safe harbor so that no prior
management company rules that could be
deemed to be discriminatory will be applied
to you.
Criminal Background:
HUD is currently considering
revisions to the 2013 guidance it issued
regarding applicants with a criminal
background and the resulting disparate
impact on persons within certain protected
classes. A public comment period ended in
August and there will likely be significant
revisions to the guidance issued sometime
this year.
HUD Guidance in General:
Since February of 2018, the multi-
family housing industry has been told by
HUD to expect significant changes in
guidance on Fair Housing issues. The
author anticipates changes that will
significantly and favorably affect your
practice and walking back the “gotcha”
mentality that has reigned on the advocacy
side.
R. David Fritsche is an attorney with The Law Offices of R. David Fritsche, General Counsel to
the San Antonio Apartment Association, and engages in the practice of landlord/tenant law and
civil litigation. He can be reached at (210) 227-2726, facsimile (210) 227-5550.
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