Two Western Massachusetts property owners have agreed to pay $23,000 to resolve allegations that they discriminated against a 59-year-old man due to his mental disability and failed to provide notice to prospective tenants after denying rental applications because of poor credit, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced yesterday.
According to the complaint, Adam Zaykoski and Jessalyn Zaykoski allegedly refused to rent to a prospective tenant because of his disability, and because he received a rental assistance subsidy from the Mental Health Association (MHA). The Zaykoskis also allegedly violated consumer protection laws by failing to provide the prospective tenant, as well as other applicants, with an "adverse action notice" that would have alerted them to the fact that their rental applications were denied because of poor credit histories.
"Equal and fair access to housing is a right of all residents of the Commonwealth," Coakley said in a statement. "Massachusetts residents must be provided with proper notice about the use of their credit histories in housing decisions so that they can make sure that landlords base their decisions on reports that are accurate."
Under the terms of the consent judgment, the Zaykoskis, who own and manage a four-unit rental in Gill, will pay $16,000 to the prospective tenant, and provide him with notice the first time any one-bedroom or studio apartment becomes available in their building. The Zaykoskis will also create and implement a credit-screening policy that will require them to send adverse action notices to any prospective tenant who is denied an apartment due to credit history as well as use an alternative process for determining whether a tenant who receives public assistance has the ability to pay rent.
The Zaykoskis will pay an additional $5,000 to the Massachusetts Fair Housing Commission and $2,000 to the commonwealth, and at least one of them must attend training on federal and Massachusetts fair housing laws.
Under Massachusetts law, it is illegal to discriminate against housing applicants because they receive public assistance or because of a disability. It is also a violation of the Consumer Protection Law and the Fair Credit Reporting Act to fail to provide adverse action notices to prospective tenants whose rental applications are denied because of credit histories.
