Disability Law Index - Fair Housing Act: Reasonable Accommodation: Waiving Fees

Case Law:

U.S. v. California Mobile Home Park Management Co., 29 F.3d 1413 (9th Cir. 1994).

  • Defendant had refused to waive a guest fee for a resident that needed a live-in home health care aide.
  • Generally applicable fees are not immune from scrutiny under the Fair Housing Act's reasonable accommodation mandate. To exempt generally applicable fee rules from would permit landlords to circumvent the Fair Housing Act simply by imposing fees for certain matters, rather than imposing a flat ban or other type of restrictive rule.
  • The challenged fee rule must, have the potential to deny persons an "equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling" because of their handicap. There are many types of residential fees that affect handicapped and non-handicapped residents equally and are clearly proper. Fees that merit closer scrutiny are those with unequal impact, imposed in return for permission to engage in conduct that a landlord is required to permit under the Fair Housing Act.
  • A reviewing court should examine, among other things,
    • the amount of fees imposed,
    • the relationship between the amount of fees and the overall housing cost,
    • the proportion of other tenants paying such fees,
    • the importance of the fees to the landlord's overall revenues,
    • and the importance of the fee waiver to the handicapped tenant.