Can you charge a different application fee for a married couple versus 2 individuals?

[Kimberly T.]

I'm researching PMs in other markets we're considering buying in, and have seen some PM sites with info for prospective tenants. When I look at their apps, I have seen some with the following type of set up:

"Each adult must apply and pay a separate application fee" and then later in the app it says each applicant must submit the $50 app fee or $75 for a married couple.

So, if 2 unmarried adults wanted to apply, they'd have to pay a total of $100, but a married couple would only pay $75. Wouldn't this constitute discrimination based on marital status? Thoughts?

[Steve Babiak]

Originally posted by @Walter Ichikawa-Doyle:

... Even the married/unmarried should be able to be justified by the extra work involved to qualify the tenants, one member of the couple as opposed to two individuals I would think....

It would be a mistake to just check one person from a married couple. I can tell you the story about the married couple who only wanted to use the husband's info to qualify. Why was that? Because upon further investigation, the wife is the one who had the recent bankruptcy and multiple judgments ...

So each adult person, married or unmarried, gets to fill out the application and pay the application fee in to get into one of my units.