PM said they can’t adjust credit score criteria per property

[Lesley M.]

Hi there. I own a rental property in St Louis. We recently had turnover and listed the property on the market again. I asked my property manager to increase the minimum credit score for applicants. They said they couldn’t adjust it per property because that would make them liable for discrimination.  Does anyone have experience with this?

[Corby Goade]

People misunderstand fair housing regulations all of the time. There are so many people here that have the perspective "I'm not discriminating, so I have nothing to worry about."

Totally untrue- fair housing violation claims are not about whether or not you actually discriminated, it's about being able to prove that you did not, which is much more nuanced than you think. 

As a property manager (or self manager), if you don't have very specific criteria and processes published and documentation for every step along the way, you can end up with a HUGE fine. Not because you discriminated, but because you couldn't prove that you did not. 

That being said, I think it's possible to adjust your credit requirements for an individual property and still be protected, but my guess here is that is not the issue. The real issue is that your PM already has processes and criteria in place and making modifications for just one property, one owner, mucks up the whole machine. 

Property management is really a low margin business and profits are made based on effeciency, I'm sure they are trying to remain consistent in order to maintiain their processes. 

Before I get blown up- I understand that credit scores are not protected and you can "discrimniate" based on them. I'm talking about a PM having clear and consistent processes related to screening and tenant placement- credit scores are a big part of that and as a whole, they play in to protecting both you as the owner and the PM from violations.