not having children in apartment

[legalese]

Conn

Can i turn down children if i live in the lower unit of a 2 family house? I was told years ago that i can as long as i live there not sure if laws hae changed
( by the way i rented to many children over the years)

legalese

 

[DeenaCA]

It's generally a violation of the federal Fair Housing Act to discriminate against families with children. However, there's an exemption if the only rental property you own is an owner-occupied multifamily building with no more than 4 units.

While you can legally select a tenant without children, it's still illegal to publish a discriminatory ad or to "make statements" indicating a discriminatory preference. So you can decline to rent to families with kids but you can't tell them why.

Here's the Fair Housing Act at 42 U.S. Code 3604: United States Code: Title 42,3604. Discrimination in the sale or rental of housing and other prohibited practices | LII / Legal Information Institute. And here's the exemption at 3603(b):

Nothing in section 3604 of this title (other than subsection (c)) shall apply to—
rooms or units in dwellings containing living quarters occupied or intended to be occupied by no more than four families living independently of each other, if the owner actually maintains and occupies one of such living quarters as his residence.