Oh, Baby! Class Action Suit Alleges Broker Discrimination
This morning there are articles in the Times, the Sun, and the Post about a class-action lawsuit alleging that agents from Brown Harris Stevens’ Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights offices discriminated against a couple because they had a kid. The couple, Jamie Katz and Lisa Nocera, started looking to move from Manhattan to Brooklyn in…
This morning there are articles in the Times, the Sun, and the Post about a class-action lawsuit alleging that agents from Brown Harris Stevens’ Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights offices discriminated against a couple because they had a kid. The couple, Jamie Katz and Lisa Nocera, started looking to move from Manhattan to Brooklyn in 2006, when Nocera was pregnant. They found an apartment they wanted to rent in Brooklyn Heights but a broker from Brown Harris Stevens told them they couldn’t rent it because the landlord didn’t want kids in the unit. A year later the couple, who now had a baby, was once again trying to uproot to Brooklyn but were denied a Park Slope rental they wanted because the owner told another Brown Harris Stevens agent that the apartment had lead paint and therefore wasn’t safe for kids. Katz and Nocera are claiming that the refusal to rent to them violated federal, state, and city anti-discrimination laws, which specify that a landlord can’t say he won’t rent to prospective tenants based on “family status.” As the Times article points out, many brokers are unaware—or choose to ignore—the laws. The broker for the Park Slope apartment, for example, allegedly left a voice mail message for the couple saying the following: There was a child there before and … it was just a big, big, big problem and they’re just, they just absolutely are not going to go through that again…They just don’t want to have to deal with it. The suit seeks to ensure that Brown Harris Stevens agents comply with the law, and, if successful, it’ll probably influence the way brokers around the city behave towards would-be renters with children. “The brokers are enabling the discriminatory goals of the landlord,” the lawyer representing the couple told the Post.
Couple’s Suit Accuses Real Estate Firm of Bias Against Children [NY Times]
Real Estate Firm Sued Over Child Discrimination [NY Sun]
Apt. Suit: It’s Bias Vs. Kids [NY Post]
Photo by Lab2112.
Hey 4:52 you seem to be the bitter and miserable one no? Come play with me…eh in traffic you IDIOT.
There are a whole lot of bitter renters on this post today!
Hey 4:00 – I own my house and I don’t have renters. Renters are the scum of the earth.
Oh, I see. Anyone who’s not willing to fund your kid for you is a miserable human being? Take some personal responsibility and teach your kid some. Welfare states the world over are collapsing under their own weight. By the time little Timmy grows up he’s going to have to make his own way. Teach him now or he’ll be living under a bridge.
Thank you, 4:00. People pretend that they can do whatever they like cuz they are ‘owners’ while sucking up the high rents available in Brownstone Brooklyn. You give up some property rights when you become a landlord.
I’m converting a 2fam south slope home to a one fam. I don’t want to be a landlord.
2:42, 4:04
You are miserable human beings. Go play in traffic.
I am landlord (2 rentals apts) who has in past rented to tenant with young child but frankly I would be very hesitant to do again.
This is the law passed that did it.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/homeowners/lead_paint.shtml
4:04, go read 11:30’s post.
People stop feeling so entitled. If you have a kid and are still renting be humble and live where kids are welcome. I am a renter myself but I totally understand LLs not wanting to be held liable for lead poisoning (especially in our lawyer hungry country) or having some loud kid running around upstairs and breaking stuff…Oh i love kids mind you but before having one I would plan way in advance. Nobody owes YOUR kid a place to stay but yourself.
Here’s a thought for all of you delightful landlords who rent out a part of your home in exchange for payment: don’t rent to anyone. That’s right. Live all by yourself in your house and pay your WHOLE mortgage. Oh, what’s that? You depend on the income from your tenants to pay the mortgage? Really? Then shut up. Shut up and treat your tenants with respect (as they should treat you) and be glad for the symbiotic relationship that allows you to be a homedebtor and your tenant to have a nice place to live. As to the issue of renting to people with kids/no kids, would one really want to live in a place where the homedebtor/landlord had such a hateful attitude (I’m looking at you 2:32)? Not I. But the prejudices so constantly on display here certainly do prove the need for laws to protect against discrimination. Carry on with your general douchebaggery.