When buying a home, you may hear about the Fair Housing Act and wonder what it is and what it means.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development explains this act ensures there is no discrimination in the home buying process. It also applies to other types of housing to help prevent discriminatory practices.
Protections
The Fair Housing Act protects you during all steps of the process of buying a home. It includes preventing any type of prejudice or negative actions based on your race, gender, religion, ethnicity, disability or other protected factors.
It also covers you for buying any type of house. There are some exceptions, such as religious organization housing or member-only type situations.
Types of discrimination
The Fair Housing Act will help to ensure that nobody can refuse to sell to you due to a protected status. It will prevent people from excluding you from living in a specific area, such as a gated community. It will also protect you against fake inspections or other attempts to defraud you to prevent you from buying a home.
It also ensures that a seller provides equal terms for the sale to everyone and stops advertising that would discriminate against someone based on protected status. In addition, it will stop harassment or limiting privileges due to your protected characteristics.
It stops people from trying to discourage you from buying based on discrimination towards you or refusing to provide you a mortgage based solely on a protected trait.
Fair housing means everyone has an equal opportunity to buy the home they want.
