This. Let's say they begrudgingly change their mind because you threaten action. What kind of landlords do you think they'll be then?
I am well aware of this but that is not what was said to them. Also in many cases a landlord can discriminate against anyone if they reside in one of the units/multifamily.
I would not be worried about that at all. Realtors are more than happy to clean up after another realtor's mistake. Many of us are friends but we still compete even within or own office. Also there are over 25,000 active realtors in Houston so no one is really going to know about your situation.
I would threaten them on this discrimination stuff so you at least get your credit report costs, etc, covered.
Wrong, they would have to claim it is the number of tenants. Gender is protected, one can't say that is too many black people...
"Doesn't matter because they can claim its the number of male tenants and not the sex." That sentence will get someone sued with the bolded word in there. I understand what you are trying to say but that is not how one should word it. The legality of a real estate transaction can be very grey which is why realtors legally need a sponsoring broker to be active. The things you say can be interpreted in ways you did not mean. That is why we are legally obligated to use TREC promulgated forms. Also that is why some realtors sound robotic, sterile personality, or come off as a politician. They feel every sentence is being scrutinized by all parties involved in a transaction. This is usually the case in new realtors who are still learning and depend heavily on their brokers for support. People want realtors who are personable but a line has to be drawn during the process of a transaction.
Sent them several more nice emails pleading our case, asking to at least meet the owners so they can see what we're like but was met with two word condescending emails like "no chance" or "no way". We are now going to threaten lawsuit, and hopefully prevent them from ever being able to lease that place out. If they come back with "oh it's because there are three of y'all not because y'all are guys" then I will make sure they lease to two or less people (good luck with that to an overpriced 3 bedroom 3.5 bathroom house in the middle of Midtown). I don't give a **** about living there anymore I just want them to suffer and lose money. I know, I know. I'm just vengeful and petty.
Sounds like they made the right choice.. In my business we call your type low value / high maintenance customers or in other words 'no thanks'. Get over it not everyone wants your money, and not everyone has to take it and deal with a pompous set of young punks. Believe it or not some people are there to make money ,and mitigate risk... and not deal with petty vengeful punks. I am sure nothing you said at any point alerted them to your tendencies. You'll live, and they will get the tenants they want.
Maybe they didn't want to rent to 3 individuals. Maybe they would feel more comfortable renting to 1 individual.
First of all, I was being tongue-in-cheek. Second of all, we never even got a chance to speak to the owners, just the realtor. Just to show you an example of how respectful we were here's the last email we sent: Dear [realtor], We wanted to reach out to you and the owners of 1307 Oneil St. directly and express our bewilderment at their disinterest in the lease application we submitted. We are ambitious young adults whose credit reports, educational and professional background, and demeanor in the brief interactions we have had should have expressed our sincerity and level of interest in leasing 1307 Oneil St. We realize there is some skepticism in 3 guys in their mid 20s taking care of this house, but we assure you we have nothing but the best of intentions. As our realtor has indicated we are willing to increase the security deposit as a token of our intentions. We have just as much to lose as we strive to build on our personal and professional reputations. We again kindly ask for your reconsideration, and hope that our persistence will be taken as another indication of our interest and sincerity. We are at your disposal for a phone call or a face to face meeting with the owners; we are confident that this would quickly assuage any pre-conceived fears regarding our demeanor. Thank you for your time and consideration on this matter. Sincerely, _______ This email was answered with literally three words "Not a chance". I'm disclosing the address I guess to warn others.
Well if that was the case, they should said that from the beginning before we filled out all the applicatoin, submit credit reports, or even make the trip to look at the house.
I understand but in business they can make a business decision to mitigate risk. I agree that it is lame, and I agree perhaps a rush to judgment on their parts being that you are such nice guys. Later when you are old and your cholesterol is high you can complain about your life insurance policy being higher or getting denied... There are costs / discrimination associated with age and at the end of the day they only need to rent it once.. not 25 or 100 times. So that once, if they have a choice between young guys, or anyone else, if given the opportunity they will choose anyone else.... its like would you rather give a ride to a guy in a dirty leather jacket that is hitch hiking or the girl thats car broke down and she looks hot? It's just a matter of risk and choosing the safe route. They have made a business decision against young guys. I cant say that I totally disagree with that mindset having had tenants myself.
You're really stretching it there. I know what risk mitigation is, thank you. All that gets thrown out the window when considering the legality of it. What they did is patently discriminatory. Legally, it's not any different than them saying "Sorry, we don't rent out to black people". Here's what my grievances are: 1) Clearly illegal discrimination 2) If they really do not rent out to males, setting aside the fact that it's illegal to discriminate so, why did they even let us see the place and give us an application/ask for credit report? Why waste our time? The one of the guys who currently lives out of town took a $900 fight to come down and look at houses (albeit, we did look at other houses, but this one was the primary target). 3) How rude and condescending they were throughout the whole process.
Plausible deniability? "No judge, we didn't discriminate against them. We never spoke directly to the applicants and were misrepresented by our realtor. As you can see, since we did ask for their credit reports and performed our due diligence, it's obvious that we did initially consider them to be legitimate candidates. And wouldn't that preclude "discrimination"? "
