N.Y. Real estate firm Brown Harris Stevens sued for discrimination against children
Brown Harris Stevens, a New York real estate company, is being sued by a couple, Jamie Katz and Lisa Nocera, for housing discrimination in a class action.
When Nocera was pregnant, the couple was refused to be shown an apartment because the owners did not want to rent to a family. A year later in 2007, with their new born in tow, they were shown another apartment by a Brown Harris Stevens Brooklyn broker.
However, even after passing the credit check, their application was rejected because there was a problem with lead paint and so the owner would not rent to families with children. The couple was suspicious and hired a law firm to file their suit.
The lawsuit charges that a Brown Harris agent palmed off an undercover tester from non-profit group, the Fair Housing Justice Center, who claimed to have a child when he viewed at a Brooklyn Heights apartment. In the following week, another tester claimed to be childless was shown the same apartment.
The federal Fair Housing Act outlaws doing anything to discourage someone from renting an apartment based on family status, whether by steering the potential tenant away or by outright rejection. State and city human-rights laws also stipulate such a rule.
This class action seeks to a ruling that will order Brown Harris Stevens to train their agents to follow the Fair Housing Act, plus unspecified damages to Katz and Nocera.
Aileen Truesdale, the Brown Harris broker who rejected Nocera and Katz on the two Brooklyn Heights apartments, claimed she did not say that the landlords would not rent to families with kids and denied any wrong doing.
Although it is the broker’s responsibility to inform potential tenants of hazards in the apartment, the lead plaintiffs asserted that they were not indifferent to their child’s safety. They offered to repaint the properties at their own expense although city law requires landlords of multifamily houses to remove any lead contamination when it becomes vacant.
Brown Harris Stevens refused to comment on the suit and the owners of the buildings are not named in the suit.
Related posts:
- Xerox pays $12 million in racial discrimination lawsuit settlement
- Big oil companies sued in a class action by boat owners
- HSBC sued for violating labor laws in California
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
Thank you. Please come back again