Fair Housing

April 4, 2019

HOA Violates the Fair Housing Act by Denying a Service Animal in the Clubhouse

In Sanzaro v Ardiente Homeowners Association, et. al., Docket No. 2:11-CV0-1143-RFB-CWH, 2019 WL 1049380 (D Nev, March 5, 2019), a federal court imposed a judgment of $350,000 in compensatory damages, $285,000 in punitive damages and awarded the plaintiffs attorney’s fees and costs against their homeowners association.  Based upon the facts of the case, the court determined that the homeowners association…
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November 17, 2016

Is a Co-Owner Entitled to a Reasonable Accommodation to use Medical Marijuana Under the Federal Fair Housing Act?

On November 8, 2016, Florida, North Dakota and Arkansas joined 25 other states and the District of Columbia in approving the use of medical marijuana. Now that medical marijuana is legal in more than half of the states in the United States, medical marijuana use is becoming an issue that condominium associations are forced to deal with. Many condominium bylaws…
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October 19, 2016

Can Clearly Unenforceable Deed Restrictions Create Potential Liability for Your Association?

In 1948, the United States Supreme Court in Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948) declared that racially restrictive deed restrictions violated the Fourteenth Amendment and would not be enforced by the courts. However, it remained legal for property owners and realtors to discriminate on the basis of race privately. It took a full twenty years after the Supreme Court’s…
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August 3, 2016

Section 47a of the Michigan Condominium Act: Modifications and Improvements to Protect Persons with Disabilities

Persons with disabilities who reside in condominiums have several statutory protections available to them designed to prevent discrimination against the disabled.  These protections include the federal Fair Housing Amendments Act (“FHAA”), 42 USC 3604. The FHAA applies to housing, and to the provisioning of services in connection with housing.  While the FHAA addresses the circumstances where a person with a…
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