Can an owner refuse to lease a house to solely based on gender, in this case because they are "three guys"? Here's what happened. Two of my friends and I are trying to get a townhouse in midtown for lease and found a perfect place. We jumped on it as soon as we could and made an offer, turned in an application, along with a credit report. During the negotiation for rent, they would not budge because, again we're "three guys", but the realtor said they are not going to take any more offers from anyone else so we figured we're good. This morning, we were suddenly told that they refuse to sign the papers because we are "three guys". I guess they think we're going to treat the house like a frat house and destroy it. We are 22, 23, 25, and are all gainfully employed, and combined we make over 5 times the amount of rent per month. We have no bad history with any of our previous landlords and all have good credit with no criminal background. I guess I'm just venting but it's ridiculous that they knew we were three guys from the beginning and made us go through all the crap and at the last second refuse to sign the papers because of the fact that we are dudes.
Sorry, but I wouldn't rent to you either. There is nothing saying that they have to rent to you and I think it's to your credit that they are even being as up front with you as they are. This rental is an investment to these people. It is only smart to not rent to a demographic that is not in their best interest. You guys may be great tenants but the law of averages says that it is not a wise decision for them to rent to you.
Did y'all provide references for previous living accomodations? We rented our house to 3 20-21 year old males and they were very good tenants. However, one was the grandson of a very good friend. Had he not been one of the tenants, we would have explored other options prior to renting to them.
Realtor should have doubled/tripled the price if they did not want to rent to you. It's pretty stupid of them to flat out and say "three guys" is their reason. Bad business
Just emphasizing the point that they explicitly stated our gender as reason for denial. Yeah we had plenty of good references. I mean I wouldn't be as mad if they were honest from the beginning so we didn't have to jump through all the hoops. Now we have to start from scratch again and our current lease ends by the end of the month.
As a realtor I can say that is definitely illegal. Sexual orientation is not protected though. If someone wants to live in certain areas based on race then I have to get them to sign something showing that. I could be suid for steering otherwise.
I seen places where there are limits on how many adults that could rent the place. They could argue that they only have problem because there are 3 guys versus 2 guys.
Its because they saw your car, KevC. If a Camaro-driving Korean kid rocking Pumas and a Rice degree rolls up and asks me to rent out his place to him and his buddies, I'd be like, "no."
I think it's a pretty clear case of discrimination. The realtor straight up said that because we are males they will not sign the papers after dragging us through all the paperwork. I was going to write them a nasty email telling them that I will be filing a complaint but is it possible that by doing that we alienate ourselves from the market before we find another place? In other words, to realtors talk to each other in the area and say "be careful of those guys"?
I think you should cut your losses and move on. It's not worth it fighting when your time can be better used to look for another place.
