questions & answers

Question: I am looking for a place to live in Flagstaff. I put an ad on Facebook and was contacted by a woman with a room for rent. I told her I was a freshman in college. I then set an appointment with her to veiw the house. I saw the room and told her I would take it. She said she would talk with her sister then asked me if a specific day would work to sign the lease. She contacted me several days later and told me that her other tenants where uncomfortable with me being 18 and refused to rent to me. She knew I was under 21 before I saw the room. Is it legal to deny me tenancy based on age?

Answer: Under the Fair Housing Act, it is unlawful for a residential landlord to discriminate against a prospective tenant on the basis of any of the following: race, national origin, color, religion, disability, sex, or familial status (https://housing.az.gov/general-public/fair-housing). Generally speaking, being 18 rather than 21 or older does not make an individual a member of a protected class in this context.