Fair Housing, Consumer Protection, and Real Estate Practice
Protected classes
Federal fair housing law protects race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability. Massachusetts law goes further and adds marital status, ancestry, age, sexual orientation including gender identity, veteran status, genetic information, and disability. Prohibited conduct includes refusing to sell or rent, offering different terms, discriminatory advertising, blockbusting, steering, redlining, and denying reasonable accommodations or modifications for disability.
Consumer protection
Massachusetts General Laws chapter 93A prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in trade or commerce, and licensees can be liable under it; willful violations can bring multiple damages and attorney fees. Board regulations govern advertising, escrow handling, and record keeping. Describe the property, never the people: do not speculate about neighborhood demographics, do not steer buyers toward or away from areas, and do not repeat a seller's instruction to exclude a protected group.
Traps
Expect: 'An owner selling without an agent may advertise adults only' (false, familial status still applies); 'Steering is acceptable when the buyer asks for a particular neighborhood' (false); 'Pregnant buyers are not covered by familial status' (false, they are); 'A reasonable accommodation request can simply be ignored' (false). Also watch questions that treat the state and federal classes as identical; the state list is broader.
Rule of thumb
When an instruction or ad references people rather than property features, stop and rework it. Document every accommodation request and the response.