Words and Phrases that Violate Fair Housing Laws in NYC

[Benny]

My friend who's a REBNY member broker sent this to me, apparently it was circulated to all REBNY members and it seems like these words will automatically be screened by REBNY's new compliance system. Violations of Fair Housing Laws, for example having these prohibited words in your listing description, can earn you a severe fine with no notice period of $10,000 or 0.5% of the listing price apparently, whichever is greater. This zero notice thing is scary, it means you don't even have a chance to remedy it without getting fined.

The RLS says that the following words are prohibited in most instances (as you might reasonably expect):

able-bodied only
adult friendly
adults only
adults preferred
African Americans friendly
African Americans only
African Americans Preferred
AIDS friendly
AIDS, no
American Indian friendly
American Indian preferred
American Indian, only
Asian friendly
Asian preferred
blind friendly
buddhist
cash assistance
Catholic friendly
Catholic preferred
Catholic, only
Chicano
Chinese friendly
Chinese only
Chinese preferred
Christian friendly
Christian only
Christian preferred
citizens only
disabled
disability
English only
FEPS
gay friendly
gay(s)
heterosexual
Hindu friendly
Hindu only
Hindu preferred
Homosexual
Hispanic
Islamic
Jewish
lesbian
lesbian(s)
LGBTQ
LINC
low income
married couples
married only
married preferred
Mexican friendly
Mexican only
Mexican preferred
Muslim friendly
Muslim only
Muslim preferred
Nationality
no African American
no American Indian
no Asian
no blind
no Catholic
no children
no Chinese
no Christian
no crippled
no deaf
no handicapped
no HASA
no Hindu
no Jews
no Mexican(s)
no migrant workers
no Muslim
No Negro
no Philippine
no Polish
no programs

These words may be a violation as well of Fair Housing Laws in NYC depending on in what context they're used:

good school
near church
near synagogue
near temple
safe neighborhood

Note that REBNY has said multiple times that this list is not meant to be all-inclusive, and may be amended periodically. The PDF on the REBNY website can be found here (which may be updated periodically): https://rebny.com/content/dam/rebny/...ases_List.pdf?

P.S. Remember, when writing listing descriptions the focus should be on describing the property, not what a potential buyer's characteristics should be. Not what seller is like personally, and not what the buyer should or ideally be like. That's a no no in the 21st century :-)

[lower_nyc]

It's encouraging to see this new initiative to reign in the behavior of brokers who behave inappropriately, although I must admit I can't recall ever seeing a listing description in Manhattan have any of these terms or phrases. Perhaps it's more prevalent in outer boroughs?

Also, curious about the inclusion of the phrase 'low income'. What are the implications of this when advertising for HDFC apartments which have actual income restrictions?

[aslan]

That's a great question, I've definitely seen the phrase "low income" used before at least in the official HDFC coop income limit rules (good article on this in general linked below). So the building docs itself may have that phrase, which would then be unavoidable if you must hand them to a buyer.

With that said, perhaps REBNY is referring more to the listing description itself. You can be more generic on there, and just say income limits are as follows, and keep it at that.

And agreed, I don't think any REBNY brokers, particularly in Manhattan, ever use any of those prohibited words. Times have changed, and moved on. People aren't that ignorant anymore, least of all in NYC.

[ryan_gz]

Had to laugh when I saw this post. I know of too many sellers who want to write, or have a large input, into their own listing descriptions. Much to the dismay of listing brokers, sellers seem to always want to emphasize the school zone their building is in, or that it's zoned for great schools. While I'm sure that's a selling point for parents with children who are looking, it definitely seems to be a potential red flag at least according to these REBNY rules.

What do you guys think?