Handicap Discrimination and Fair Housing Laws

Question: What conditions are considered handicaps under the fair housing laws?

Answer: A handicapping condition exists if someone has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities.

Some examples are: physical disability, mental illness or retardation, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, cancer, heart disease, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection or AIDS, drug addiction (other than addiction caused by current, illegal use of a controlled substance) and alcoholism. However, a landlord does not have to rent to anyone, including a handicapped person, who would constitute a genuine, direct threat to the health or safety of other tenants or whose tenancy would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others.

Question: Does a landlord have to allow a handicapped person to make modifications to a rental unit?

Answer: Yes. A landlord must allow a handicapped person to make reasonable modifications to the existing premises as necessary for the full enjoyment of the premises, such as widening doorways, installing hand rails, and installing wheelchair ramps. However, the handicapped person is responsible for the cost of the modifications. A landlord may condition permission to make modifications on the tenant's agreeing to restore the interior of the premises to the original condition if the modifications made by the handicapped tenant would interfere with the next tenant's reasonable use and enjoyment of the property. The landlord may also withhold permission until seeing a description of the proposed modifications which provides reasonable assurance that the modifications will be done in a workmanlike manner. [Note: All multi-family dwellings covered by the fair housing laws and ready for first occupancy after March 13, 1991, have to be designed and constructed so that few, if any, modifications will be necessary.]

Question: Can a landlord charge a higher security deposit to a handicapped person who makes modifications to a rental unit?

Answer: No. However, if the nature of the modifications is such as would interfere with the next tenant's use and enjoyment of the property, and correction of the modifications would be  especially costly, the landlord may, as part of a restoration agreement between the landlord and tenant, require the tenant to pay into an interest-bearing escrow account a reasonable amount to cover restoration costs. The tenant would be entitled to any interest which accrues on the escrow account.

Question: Does a landlord have to make other accommodations for a handicapped tenant?

Answer: Yes. A landlord must make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services as necessary to afford a handicapped person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a housing unit, including public and common use areas; for example, allowing a visually-impaired tenant to have an aid dog in a community where no pets are allowed, and allowing a tenant with a serious heart condition to have a reserved parking space close to the tenant's apartment.

Question: If a landlord has available units which are equipped for the handicapped, does a handicapped person have to take one of those units?

Answer: No. A landlord can advise a handicapped person of the availability of specially equipped units, but the handicapped person must be allowed to choose from any of the units which are available.