"No Families With Little Kids" and the Assistance Animal

The licensee must decline the instruction clearly, in writing if possible, and continue to market the property to all qualified buyers.

Why:

• Refusing to show or steering away from families with children is discrimination based on familial status, prohibited by the federal Fair Housing Act and by the South Dakota Human Relations Act (SDCL ch. 20-13). Confirm current statutory text and covered classes with the Commission and the Division of Human Rights, because the enumerated protected classes are amended from time to time.
• The licensee's own liability is independent of the seller's. An agent who follows an unlawful instruction becomes a participant. "The seller told me to" is not a defense; it is an admission.
• Even softened compliance is a violation: delaying responses, quoting a higher price to families, failing to mention the pool, or "we already have interest" hedging is steering.

Proper response to the seller:

1. Explain the protected classes and that you cannot screen buyers by family status.
2. Address the real concern - pool safety and liability - instead. The lawful tools are a pool safety disclosure, a barrier/cover requirement, and an inspection; not buyer screening.
3. If the seller insists, the licensee should document the instruction, decline, and consider whether the listing can continue. Withdrawing under the brokerage agreement may be the right call.
4. Notify the managing broker immediately; the brokerage, not just the individual, is exposed.

An assistance animal is not a pet. It is a reasonable accommodation for a disability under the Fair Housing Act, and the landlord's pet rules, pet rent, and pet deposits generally do not apply to it.

Buyer's rights and the correct process:

• The buyer may request a reasonable accommodation to a no-pet rule or a pet fee.
• Where the disability and the need are not obvious (a wheelchair user's need for a service dog is often apparent, but the need for the specific animal may not be), the housing provider may request reliable documentation supporting the disability-related need. A physician's letter is generally sufficient.
• The provider may not demand medical records, a diagnosis, or a specific form, and may not charge pet rent or a pet deposit for the animal.
• The provider may still hold the tenant responsible for actual damage and may require the animal not to be a nuisance or a direct threat.

What the licensee should tell the buyer about her current lease: that she can request the accommodation from the current landlord at any time, and that denial or a retaliatory response is actionable. Practically, the licensee should also tell the new landlord or the seller in the transaction only what is necessary to process an accommodation - the buyer's diagnosis is not a selling point and is not the licensee's information to share freely. Screening for "no pets" must yield to the accommodation request in writing.

Two different disclosure questions - keep them separate.

Housing voucher / source of income. Federal fair housing law does not itself list source of income as a protected class, but many state and local laws do, and South Dakota's Human Relations Act and local ordinances should be checked for the current list of protected classes. Set that aside and the practical answer is: the buyer applies on her own financial merit, and the licensee should not volunteer a voucher or any other income source to the seller unless the buyer authorizes it and it is part of the actual application. Where source-of-income protection applies, refusing an otherwise qualified buyer because of a voucher is unlawful and the licensee must not participate in screening on that basis. The buyer is not obligated to pre-disclose anything to the seller; she must complete the written application truthfully.

Death in the home. Most states, including South Dakota, do not treat a death from natural causes, illness, or accident as a material fact requiring disclosure, and a "stigmatized property" condition is generally not a defect in the property. The licensee's duty is accuracy: if asked directly, do not lie - confirm what state law requires before answering, and disclose any known physical condition (mold, water intrusion, structural defect) regardless.

Rules the licensee should follow:

• Do not invent a disclosure obligation that does not exist, and do not conceal one that does.
• Check the seller's property condition disclosure requirements and the brokerage's policy on stigmatized property.
• If the licensee knows of a homicide, suicide, or other event that a specific statute treats differently, follow the statute, not the folklore.
• Document the conversation and what was and was not disclosed, and to whom.