Feature

by D. J. Ryan

You know the day is going to be a bad one when you open your mail and find an envelope from the Department of Fair Employment and Housing in the pile. You can be quite sure the envelope contains a letter notifying you that a fair housing complaint has been filed against you. That sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach is unavoidable—whether you are a seasoned professional with a huge portfolio or a small investor with just a single rental. But there is hope.

The good news is that if you have complied with the laws and faithfully carried out your recordkeeping duties, you are almost home free. Why? The answer is that even if you are doing everything right, if you are unable to prove it, your efforts don’t matter. This applies to big owners and management companies as well as to small owners.

Here is a list of six top operational documents that every owner and manager should maintain:

Written Rental Qualifications
This document helps to demonstrate that you select your residents based on the same objective criteria that you apply to all applicants. (By the way, “good credit” is subjective; detailing what you consider to be good credit becomes objective.)

Phone Log
This spiral-bound log lists all incoming and outgoing business calls as well as your return calls in response to voice mail. This old-fashioned, chronological method can help prove what was said in the briefest of conversations whether they occurred in recent months or years past. This log also reveals how quickly you respond to complaints and maintenance requests. Also, please don’t substitute yellow “stickies” for proper documentation.

Availability Log
This log helps prove what units were available when, at what rent, and other valuable details each day of the year. It can substantiate what you said to a caller according to your phone log. It also helps ensure that you are providing the same current information about your vacancies to all applicants every day.

Guest Card
This card is the only written history of what transpires when applicants visit your property. It helps prove, for example, when they came, what units they considered, what they looked at and what their objections were. Guest cards completed and signed by the applicant provide the best evidence in a lawsuit.

Screening Checklist
This checklist helps demonstrate that you go through the same screening procedure for every applicant. It also helps to ensure that you don’t accidentally miss any of the steps. Consistent treatment of all applicants is critical. Don’t forget to put the initials or name of the person performing the task along with the date and time.

Activity or Conversation Log
This document allows you to track everything that transpires during each resident’s tenancy. You should affix an activity or conversation log (sheet) to each resident’s file folder that briefly notes each complaint, each phone conversation, each request for repair, each violation of the rules, etc. This log, arranged in chronological order, serves as a running history of all events and is always readily available at your fingertips. However, this does not take the place of filling out a maintenance request or serving a notice.

Of course, these top six documents are just the tip of the iceberg. You need to support these documents with many other vital pieces of documentation, which should all be checked annually to ensure compliance with current laws.
These Include:

• Written community policies that don’t discriminate;
• Leases or rental agreements that comply with current landlord-tenant and fair housing laws;
• Applications that don’t ask discriminating questions;
• Copies of adverse-action letters for applicants who are denied or offered conditional acceptance; and
• Written procedures for leasing, screening, handling complaints, maintenance requests, sexual harassment issues, transfersbetweenapartmentsand making upgrades.

Maintaining Records
How long should you keep these mountains of documents? At least four years. Maybe you should be in the storage business!

Do it Right and be Able to Prove It
Keep in mind that when you need to provide evidence in a fair housing complaint, whether it is to an investigator from an enforcing agency or to a judge or jury, “he said/she said” is not going to work in your favor. However, thorough documentation is going to help your case. Regardless of whether you are just a small owner with a unit or two, or a huge management company with 5,000 units, the same liability, same investigative process, and same documentation needs apply. Do yourself a favor. Take a close look at your current procedures today to see how your documentation program would measure up if a complaint were filed tomorrow—then follow up by taking the necessary steps to improve it. You’ll be glad you did (and you’ll keep many more dollars in your pocket).

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. D. J. Ryan is the Director of Client Education and a fair housing specialist for the law firm of Kimball, Tirey & St. John. She has been a fair housing trainer and consultant for the past twelve years. She can be reached at 800-338-6039. Copyright © 2003 San Francisco Apartment Magazine