Federal Real Estate Law

The Fair Housing Act's protected classes, the practices it prohibits, and the other federal laws that shape every transaction.

7 minNational (Uniform) Portion

Federal real estate law is tested harder than almost any other national-portion topic, because getting it wrong in practice creates real legal exposure — not just a missed exam question.

The Fair Housing Act's seven protected classes

Race · Color · Religion · SexNational Origin · Familial Status · DisabilityFamilial status and disability were added later, by the 1988 amendments

Three practices to know by name

Steering: Directing buyers toward or away from a neighborhood based on a protected class.
Blockbusting: Inducing panic selling by suggesting a protected class moving in will hurt property values.
Redlining: Denying or limiting loans (or insurance) to an area based on its racial or ethnic makeup.

All three are illegal regardless of whether the agent believes they're being helpful — a well-intentioned agent who only shows a family with children listings near parks and schools is still steering.

Reasonable accommodation vs. reasonable modification

These two disability-related duties get confused constantly:

Policy vs. physical change

Reasonable accommodation is an exception to a policy or rule — like waiving a no-pets policy for an assistance animal. Reasonable modification is an actual physical change to the unit, like a wheelchair ramp. In most private housing, the landlord generally bears the cost of an accommodation; the tenant generally bears the cost of a modification.

Exemptions exist — but they're narrow

The Fair Housing Act has a handful of recognized exemptions: certain small owner-occupied dwellings (the "Mrs. Murphy" exemption), religious organizations housing their own members, and qualifying housing for older persons. Every one of these exemptions is narrower than it sounds — the Mrs. Murphy exemption disappears the moment a licensed agent is used to find a tenant, and the religious exemption never extends to racial discrimination even when it otherwise applies.

The other federal statutes on the exam

ADA — accessibility in public accommodations (a real estate office, not a private home) and, separately, employer obligations under Title I.
Civil Rights Act of 1866 — prohibits race discrimination in property transactions with no exemptions at all, reaching even purely private transactions.
ECOA — prohibits credit discrimination, covering some bases (like age) that the Fair Housing Act doesn't.

Quick Check

An agent shows a family with young children listings only in neighborhoods near parks and schools, genuinely believing it will help them. Is this generally still steering?

Now practice it

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