If you have a disability, you should understand the laws when you rent a house or apartment.

Disabled people have some protections when they rent living space. First, when seeking a rental, landlords are not allowed to ask you whether or not you have a disability or illness, or ask to see your medical records. After moving in, your landlord may have to provide you with accommodations, at the landlord's expense, and your landlord may have to allow you to make reasonable modifications to your living unit at your own expense.

Who Is Considered Disabled?

The federal Fair Housing Act and Fair Housing Amendments Act (42 U.S. Code sections 3601-3619, 3631) prohibit discrimination against people who:

• have a physical or mental disability that substantially limits one or more major life activities -- including, but not limited to:
  • mobility impairments
  • hearing impairments
  • visual impairments
  • chronic alcoholism (if it is being addressed through a recovery program)
  • mental illness
  • HIV, AIDS and AIDS-Related Complex, or
  • mental retardation
• have a history of such a disability, or
• are regarded by others as though they have such a disability.

Discriminatory Questions Not Allowed

Landlords are not allowed to ask you whether or not you have a disability or illness, or ask to see medical records. Even if it is obvious that you are disabled -- for example, you use a wheelchair or wear a hearing aid -- it is nevertheless illegal to inquire how severely you are disabled. In short, your landlord's actions and questions cannot be designed to treat you differently than other tenants.

The policy behind this rule is simple: No matter how well-intentioned, the landlord cannot make decisions about where and how you will live on the property that he would not make were you not disabled. For example, if there are two units for rent -- one on the ground floor and one three stories up -- the landlord must show both units to an applicant who uses a wheelchair, however reasonable he thinks it would be for the person to consider only the ground floor unit.