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.
2:42 – I dont necessarily agree but either way – we are so much further down that slippery slope it is irrelevant.
Why should a LL have to accept an unemployed tenant (with kids) who is home all day (doing nothing productive and likely damaging) putting tons more wear and tear on the building, and using way more services? And who b/c they receive rent assistance – the LL has to wait months for the rent, years for rent increases and must deal with annual inspections by Govt bureaucrats.
Yet because of Bill Diblasio (and the other morons in the city council) this is EXACTLY what the law requires.
What you people with kids are forgetting is that it’s not just about noise. It’s about all the other resources that are included in rent. No landlord who can find a single tenant should have to rent to 2 parents and a kid (or several) who will use more water, demand higher heat cause you can’t put a blanket on a baby, more gas and electricity if not separately metered, and cause more wear and tear. There’s a reason hotel rooms charge for extra occupants. Why should the landlord have to absorb the extra expense of your kids?
“Yes a landlord in an owner-occupied building with three units or fewer doesn’t have to follow fair housing guidelines, but real estate agents do, and should not accept listings from unreasonable landlords who ask them to break the law.”
How stupid are you? As you yourself point out they are not asking the brokers to break the law. The law does not apply to them.
“All you entitled owner/landlords should be ashamed of yourself. Not everyone can afford to buy a single family home in Brooklyn. And every kid deserves a roof over his or her head.”
You sound like you and your little brat are the ones who are “entitled”. You think your entitled to live in someone else’s property even though they don’t want you because you can’t afford your own and you think your kid is entitled to a roof over his head. Get a real job before you have a kid you irresponsible loser. It’s your kid, nobody else owes it a home. It’s your fault. If you can’t buy a house, can you at least buy a condom?
“i live in a building with kids and have a kid. really, i never hear them and ours does not run around screaming.
the anti-kid culture is bizarre and scary.”
Oh, so you’re that bitch from the grocery store who doesn’t even hear her kid going “mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy….” while we all give her dirty looks. Just because you can’t hear your kid anymore doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t.
Yes a landlord in an owner-occupied building with three units or fewer doesn’t have to follow fair housing guidelines, but real estate agents do, and should not accept listings from unreasonable landlords who ask them to break the law. I agree — those LLs probably did tell the agents that they didn’t want children (and then lied to the reporters), but in that case the agents were legally obligated not to take the listings. And for that one to leave that horrible message on an answering machine is just sheer stupidity — how clueless can you be?
this doesn’t really pass the smell test — why on earth would a broker not be down for making the fast rental/buck unless told by the landlord? I think the landlord is lying and only rented to a family later when they saw they weren’t getting it filled with a singleton.
and how many units could there be in a carriage house anyway?
I have a kid and am pretty sure I was rejected from two rentals due to that fact. It’s lame, illegal, and should be stopped. I now live in a coop with lots of kids and except for when one is passing directly by our door, I never EVER hear anyone’s kids. I am sooo surprised by the reactions I am reading. All you entitled owner/landlords should be ashamed of yourself. Not everyone can afford to buy a single family home in Brooklyn. And every kid deserves a roof over his or her head.
Beautiful downtown Lodi, New Jersey!