No Kids Allowed? No Good!

I was researching a case we have involving a personal injury to our client’s child while playing at their apartment complex. I ran across something very interesting. Your apartment manager or landlord cannot treat you different because you have kids.

Do you live in an apartment? Do you have children? Has your apartment complex or landlord banned kids from the pool or playing in the hallways and driveways and other such common areas? This probably is not legal. Under federal fair housing laws, your apartment complex cannot discriminate against families with children. Such laws give families with children the fair and equal right—as are given those families in the same complex without children—to the use of the common areas in your apartment complex.

Such Rules are Discrimination Against a Protected Class.

Your landlord cannot enforce a rule that discriminates against you and is based on religion, race, national origin, familial status, disability, or sex. Apartment rules that target children only and prohibit the fair and equal use of common areas are discriminatory. Common areas include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Hallways
• Corridors
• Sidewalks
• Lobbies
• Parking lots
• Driveways
• Swimming pools
• Parks
• Gyms

As an example, let’s say your apartment manager sends out a notice to all tenants stating the following:

“Children are to play in the playground and in no other areas.”

The above notice targets only families with children. This means, if enforced, children living on the property would not have fair and equal use of the common areas in your apartment complex. This is not fair. This is not legal under federal fair housing laws.

As another example, what if your apartment manager posts a sign at the pool that says the following:

“Children cannot swim without supervision.”

Once again, the above notice targets only families with children. Why? Because there are adults who are unable to swim and there are children who are good swimmers. So, under federal fair housing laws, it is not fair (it is illegal) to exclude only children from the fair and equal use of the pool and not also exclude adults who cannot swim.

While on their face, such rules make sense for the safety and wellbeing of children, when you dig deeper, such rules single out a federally protected class (families with children). Doing so is not legal. In short, federal fair housing laws, prevent landlords from treating families with children different than families or individuals without children.

Know your rights!

Your Personal Injury Attorneys.

If you were injured by a business or individual, you may be able to hold them responsible. Do not allow the evidence to go cold. Call or email now. Contact the Houston personal injury attorneys at BadassInjuryLawers.com today to schedule a free consultation and discuss your options to get what you deserve.

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