Code of Maine Rules
94 - INDEPENDENT AGENCIES
348 - MAINE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Chapter 8 - HOUSING REGULATIONS OF THE MAINE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Section 348-8-04 - DISCRIMINATORY HOUSING PRACTICES
Universal Citation: 94 ME Code Rules ยง 348-8-04
Current through 2024-38, September 18, 2024
It is unlawful to engage in discriminatory housing practices based on the protected class status or perceived protected class status of a buyer or renter or prospective buyer or renter of a covered dwelling/dwelling unit, a person residing in or intending to reside in said dwelling/dwelling unit, or any person associated with any of these persons.
A. Real estate practices prohibited
It shall be unlawful to:
(1) Refuse to sell or rent a dwelling after a
bona fide offer has been made, or to refuse to negotiate for
the sale or rental of a dwelling because of protected class status.
(2) Discriminate in the terms, conditions or
privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or
facilities in connection with sales or rentals, because of protected class
status.
(3) Engage in any conduct
relating to the provision of housing which otherwise makes unavailable or
denies dwellings to persons because of protected class status.
(4) Make, print or publish, or cause to be
made, printed or published, any notice, statement or advertisement with respect
to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation
or discrimination because of protected class status.
(5) Represent to any person because of
protected class status that a dwelling is not available for sale or rental when
such dwelling is in fact available.
(6) Engage in blockbusting practices in
connection with the sale or rental of dwellings because of protected class
status.
(7) Deny access to or
membership or participation in, or to discriminate against any person in his or
her access to or membership or participation in, any multiple-listing service,
real estate brokers' association, or other service organization or facility
relating to the business of selling or renting a dwelling or in the terms or
conditions of membership or participation, because of protected class
status.
B. Unlawful refusal to sell or rent or to negotiate for the sale or rental
(1) It shall be unlawful for a person to
refuse to sell or rent a dwelling to a person who has made a bona
fide offer, because of protected class status, or to refuse to
negotiate with a person for the sale or rental of a dwelling because of
protected class status.
(2)
Prohibited actions under this section include, but are not limited to:
(a) Failing to accept or consider a
bona fide offer because of protected class status.
(b) Refusing to sell or rent a dwelling to,
or to negotiate for the sale or rental of a dwelling with, any person because
of protected class status.
(c)
Imposing different sale prices or rental charges for the sale or rental of a
dwelling upon any person because of protected class status.
(d) Using different qualification criteria or
applications, or sale or rental standards or procedures, such as income
standards, application requirements, application fees, credit analysis or sale
or rental approval procedures or other requirements, because protected class
status.
(e) Evicting tenants
because of their protected class status or because of the protected class
status of a tenant's guest.
C. Discrimination in terms, conditions and privileges and in services and facilities
(1) Using different provisions in leases or
contracts of sale, such as those relating to rental charges, security deposits
and the terms of a lease and those relating to down payment and closing
requirements, because of protected class status.
(2) Failing or delaying maintenance or
repairs of sale or rental dwellings because of protected class
status.
(3) Failing to process an
offer for the sale or rental of a dwelling or to communicate an offer
accurately because of protected class status.
(4) Limiting the use of privileges, services
or facilities associated with a dwelling because of protected class status of
an owner, tenant, or a person associated with them.
(5) Denying or limiting services or
facilities in connection with the sale or rental of a dwelling, because a
person failed or refused to provide sexual favors.
D. Other prohibited sale and rental conduct
(1) It shall be unlawful,
because of protected class status, to restrict or attempt to restrict the
choices of a person by word or conduct in connection with seeking, negotiating
for, buying or renting a dwelling so as to perpetuate, or tend to perpetuate,
segregated housing patterns, or to discourage or obstruct choices in a
community, neighborhood or development.
(2) It shall be unlawful, because of
protected class status, to engage in any conduct relating to the provision of
housing or of services and facilities in connection therewith that otherwise
makes unavailable or denies dwellings to any persons.
(3) Prohibited practices under this section
generally refer to unlawful steering practices that include, but are not
limited to:
(a) Discouraging any person from
inspecting, purchasing, or renting a dwelling because of protected class status
of persons in a community, neighbor-hood or development.
(b) Discouraging the purchase or rental of a
dwelling because of protected class status by exaggerating drawbacks or failing
to inform any person of desirable features of a dwelling or of a community,
neighborhood, or development.
(c)
Communicating to any prospective purchaser that he or she would not be
comfortable or compatible with existing residents of a community, neighborhood
or development because of protected class status.
(d) Assigning any person to a particular
section of a community, neighborhood or development or to a particular floor of
a building because protected class status.
(4) It shall be unlawful, because of
protected class status, to engage in any conduct relating to the provision of
housing or services and facilities in connection therewith that otherwise makes
unavailable or denies dwellings to persons. Prohibited sales and rental
practices under this section include, but are not limited to:
(a) Discharging or taking other adverse
action against an employee, broker, or agent because he or she refused to
participate in a discriminatory housing practice;
(b) Employing codes or other devices to
segregate or reject applicants, purchasers or renters, refusing to take or to
show listings of dwellings in certain areas because of protected class status,
or refusing to deal with certain brokers or agents because they or one or more
of their clients are of a particular protected class status;
(c) Denying or delaying the processing of an
application made by a purchaser or renter or refusing to approve such a person
for occupancy in a cooperative or condominium dwelling because of protected
class status;
(d) Refusing to
provide municipal services or property or hazard insurance for a dwelling or
providing such services differently because protected class status.
E. Discriminatory advertisements, statements and notices
(1) It shall be unlawful to make, print or
publish, or cause to be made, printed or published, any notice, statement or
advertisement with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling which indicates
any preference, limitation or discrimination because of protected class status,
or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or
discrimination.
(2) The
prohibitions in this section shall apply to all written or oral notices or
statements by a person engaged in the sale or rental of a dwelling. Written
notices and statements include any applications, flyers, brochures, deeds,
signs, banners, posters, billboards or any documents used with respect to the
sale or rental of a dwelling.
(3)
Discriminatory notices, statements and advertisements include, but are not
limited to:
(a) Using words, phrases,
photographs, illustrations, symbols or forms which convey that dwellings are
available or not available to a particular group of persons because of
protected class status.
(b)
Expressing to agents, brokers, employees, prospective sellers or renters or any
other persons a preference for or limitation on any purchaser or renter because
of protected class status.
(c)
Selecting media or locations for advertising the sale or rental of dwellings
which deny particular segments of the housing market information about housing
opportunities because of protected class status.
(d) Refusing to publish advertising for the
sale or rental of dwellings or requiring different charges or terms for such
advertising because of protected class status.
F. Discriminatory representations on the availability of dwellings
(1) It
shall be unlawful because of protected class status, to provide inaccurate or
untrue information about the availability of dwellings for sale or
rental.
(2) Prohibited actions
under this section include, but are not limited to:
(a) Indicating through words or conduct that
a dwelling which is available for inspection, sale, or rental has been sold or
rented because of protected class status.
(b) Representing that covenants or other
deed, trust or lease provisions which purport to restrict the sale or rental of
dwellings because of protected class status, preclude the sale or rental of a
dwelling to a person.
(c) Enforcing
covenants or other deed, trust, or lease provisions which preclude the sale or
rental of a dwelling to any person because of protected class status.
(d) Limiting information, by word or conduct,
regarding suitably priced dwellings available for inspection, sale or rental,
because of protected class status.
(e) Providing false or inaccurate information
regarding the availability of a dwelling for sale or rental to any person,
including testers, regardless of whether such person is actually seeking
housing, because of protected class status.
G. Unlawful inquiries
(1) It shall be unlawful to make an inquiry
to determine whether an applicant for a dwelling, a person intending to reside
in that dwelling after it is sold, rented or made available, or any person
associated with that person, is a member of a protected class or, with regard
to an individual with a physical or mental disability, to make inquiry as to
the nature or severity of a disability of such a person. However, this
paragraph does not prohibit the following inquiries, provided these inquiries
are made of all applicants, without regard to their protected class status:
(a) Inquiry into an applicant's ability to
meet the requirements of ownership or tenancy.
(b) Inquiry to determine whether an applicant
is qualified for a dwelling available only to persons who are members of a
protected class, including, without limitation, dwellings available to persons
with physical or mental disabilities or to persons with a particular type of
physical or mental disability.
(c)
Inquiry to determine whether an applicant for a dwelling is qualified for a
priority available to persons who are members of a protected class, including,
without limitation, dwellings available to persons with physical or mental
disabilities or to persons with a particular type of physical or mental
disability;
(d) Inquiring whether
an applicant for a dwelling is a current illegal abuser or addict of a
controlled substance;
(e) Inquiring
whether an applicant has been convicted of the illegal manufacture or
distribution of a controlled substance.
H. Blockbusting
(1) It shall be unlawful, for profit, to
induce or attempt to induce a person to sell or rent a dwelling by
representation regarding the entry or prospective entry into the neighborhood
of a person or persons of a particular protected class status.
(2) In establishing a discriminatory housing
practice under this section it is not necessary that there was in fact profit
as long as profit was a factor for engaging in the blockbusting
activity.
(3) Prohibited actions
under this section include, but are not limited to:
(a) Engaging, for profit, in conduct
(including uninvited solicitations for listings) which conveys to a person that
a neighborhood is undergoing or is about to undergo a change in the protected
class status of persons residing in it, in order to encourage the person to
offer a dwelling for sale or rental.
(b) Encouraging, for profit, any person to
sell or rent a dwelling through assertions that the entry or prospective entry
of persons of a particular protected class status, can or will result in
undesirable consequences for the project, neighborhood or community, such as
lowering of property values, an increase in criminal or antisocial behavior, or
a decline in the quality of schools or other services or facilities.
I. Discrimination in the provision of brokerage services
(1) It shall be unlawful to deny any person
access to or membership or participation in any multiple listing service, real
estate brokers' organization or other service, organization, or facility
relating to the business of selling or renting dwellings, or to discriminate
against any person in the terms or conditions of such access, membership or
participation, because of protected class status.
(2) Prohibited actions under this section
include, but are not limited to:
(a) Setting
different fees for access to or membership in a multiple listing service
because of protected class status.
(b) Denying or limiting benefits accruing to
members in a real estate brokers' organization because of protected class
status.
(c) Imposing different
standards or criteria for membership in a real estate sales or rental
organization because of protected class status.
(d) Establishing geographic boundaries or
office location or residence requirements for access to or membership or
participation in any multiple listing service, real estate brokers'
organization or other service, organization or facility relating to the
business of selling or renting dwellings, because of protected class
status.
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