Fairway Trails Apartments to pay $50,000 to settle fair housing case

According to an article in the Detroit News last week, Fairway Trails Apartments in Ypsilanti, Michigan, will pay $50,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a disabled man who asked to delay his rent payment by a few days to coincide with the arrival of his Social Security check.

The lawsuit alleged that Fairway Trails retaliated by attempting to evict Harry Tyus, 58, when he asked for the late rent payment. Mr. Tyus went to Fair Housing Center of Southeastern Michigan, who worked with the U.S. Department of Justice throughout the claim process at HUD (PDF link) and in U.S. District Court (PDF link).

As a point of clarification, the case involved retaliation. A landlord may not retaliate when a tenant requests a reasonable accomodation, whether or not the accomodation requested was reasonable or based on a qualifying disability. Congress decided that the reasonableness of a request should be determined by HUD or the courts, not individual landlords.