Source: the Chicago Tribune News
Recently, a tenant applied for a rental and thought they would get the
place. They had an excellent record as a tenant, a stable job, and a string of
happy landlords in their past. However they were refused... Perhaps they should
have checked their Facebook page before applying. Landlords and agents
regularly check these, and they make decisions based on what they find. In this
tenant’s case he was a political lobbyist and was a devotee of an eastern
religion.
Was the information the landlord found the major contributor to his
decision, if it was if we were in the States it would have been illegal?
Online searches
of applicants' social media postings are on the rise. In the employment area,
studies show that employers regularly conduct such searches. For example, a
study by the Society for Human Resource Management contacted 541 job recruiters
and found that 18 percent said their companies regularly researched their
applicants on sites such as Twitter and Facebook. There's no reason to think
that landlords and agents are proceeding any differently.
But as tempting
as these sources are for information about potential tenants, using them
carries a significant legal risk.
Suppose, for
example, that you're a landlord who regularly goes online to research
applicants. You're about to reject an applicant because of a poor credit score,
but you've also viewed his Web page, which reveals that he's a devout (name a
mainstream religion). Your applicant is incensed when he doesn't get the
apartment and files a complaint with ombudsman...
What could
happen from here?
They question
you about your motives and, although you explain that the poor credit score
alone justified your rejection, you also admit that you knew about the
applicant's religion. Unfortunately, you have to convince the investigator that
this latter bit of knowledge played no part at all in your decision. You'd have
been far better off if you'd never learned of the person's religion in the
first place.
You, however,
are the applicant with a rejection and a revealing Facebook page.
Unfortunately, you have no evidence that the landlord actually saw your page.
You won't know whether he did unless you ask him. He's not likely to answer,
and you won't get any information until you put him in a position where he'll
have to answer. But to do that, you'd have to file a complaint that a fair
housing agency will pursue. But your conjecture alone that he may have gone
online, because lots of landlords are doing that, probably won't be enough to
convince a fair housing official to act on your complaint and initiate an
investigation.
There's a lesson
here for both landlords and tenants. Landlords, be wary of going to social
media sites to check out potential tenants. You may learn information that is
totally extraneous to your decisions, but may come back to haunt you when
you're challenged to prove that your knowledge of the applicant's religion,
ethnicity, age and so on was irrelevant. True, you may also learn that he's a
party animal every weekend, but you could probably learn that the old-fashioned
way (by talking to past landlords or agents).
And tenants
beware: What you post is likely to be viewed by landlords and employers. Think
twice before sharing with the entire world!
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