[blindlaw] Question About Rental Discrimination

[Stephanie Ortoleva]

I would have a friend who is not blind call him to see if the 
apartment is still available.  Your friend should start with some 
personal history that would be like yours, e.g., income, last rent 
paid, etc.  Of course, your friend should not be blind and should not 
say anything about being blind.

Then if your friend gets an appointment to come to see the apartment, 
you should call back within a few minutes thereafter to re-express 
your interest.  Then your friend should confirm the appointment he or 
she had arranged -- but better to keep the sex the same as yours -- 
to confirm the appointment.

Seems to me that if your friend gets a "yes"" to making an 
appointment and you never get a callback and your friend does not 
indicate that he is blind, than at least you would have a potential 
"refusal to deal" complaint.  Of course, all this depends on where 
you live, e.g., which state or city and what the civil rights law is there.

What I am suggesting here is to do testing.  and, of course, keep 
records of dates of your phone calls and the calls of your friend who 
you ask to be a tester, and what was said during those calls.

But if the apartment is rented when your friend  calls that is more 
difficult without knowing the date and time of the first call from 
the person to whom the landlord rented  and the date and time at 
which the landlord offered to rent the apartment to that person.

Of course, this is not legal advice as I do not know all the facts of 
your claim and have no knowledge of the law in your jurisdiction.

And, of course, to actually rent the apartment, you would probably 
need to document your income and rental history, employment status, etc.

Good luck.
At 06:48 P
M 8/30/2009, you wrote:
>It may smell like discrimination, but you might not be able to prove it
>because of one critical mistake you made. During your phone call, you had
>nothing to gain by telling him you were blind. You should have Asked some
>questions to determine if he was inclined to rent to you. If it seemed like
>he might be inclined to rent to you, save the "I am blind" surprise for your
>face-to-face meeting.  If he backed out then, you know the real reason.
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Rod alcidonis
>Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2009 1:51 PM
>To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Question About Rental Discrimination
>
>These are legitimate questions to ask, albeit improper ones. These
>questionss, standing alone, do not constitute discrimination. He has not
>refused to rent to you yet because of your blindness. It sounds like this is
>
>a landlord who is not familiar with the process rather than one who is out
>to discriminate.
>
>Call him in a couple of days.
>
>Rod alcidonis, J.D.
>C. (718) 704-4651
>roddj12 at hotmail.com
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "WB" <mruniverse08 at gmail.com>
>To: "'NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List'" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 12:18 PM
>Subject: [blindlaw] Question About Rental Discrimination
>
>
> > Good morning and happy Saturday to all.
> >
> >
> >
> > I recently spoke with a gentleman who owns duplexes for rent.  When we
> > talked about my renting one, he only asked me about how I could live alone
> > while being blind.  He also asked, "If there is a fire, how will you get
> > out?"  "Why do you live alone?"
> >
> >
> >
> > There were absolutely no questions about my rental history, income, etc.
> >
> >
> >
> > Needless to say, he told me to call him back in a couple days.  He has not
> > returned my call.  I understand that this is his property to rent as he
> > chooses, but does this smell like rental discrimination?  Any suggestions
> > as
> > to how I should proceed?
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
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>com
> >
>
>
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