Landlord Question and Answer Forum

I'm renting a small room in my house. Local laws say you can't discriminate against people with children (I called our local landlord-tenant agent and she was very clear that we CANNOT specify renting the room to only one person or NO children). I don't want to discriminate against anyone but our household and our personal temperaments just can't accommodate a child. I just got an email from someone with a 2-year-old who's interested in the room. How should I handle this?

I would call that dept again and ask to speak to the supervisor. It's just my opinion, but I feel you either didn't explain your situation clearly or the person misunderstood the question. Do a Google search for "renting room laws in my home."

Posted by Bob R, CA on Friday, February 10, 2012

You have a point, Bob. This lady seems to be the only person doing this job in our town, I think she's overworked and I had a hard time hearing her on the phone, too. I looked up the City code for housing discrimination online and it said "Nothing in this chapter shall: 1. Apply to the renting, subrenting, leasing, or subleasing of a single-family dwelling, wherein the owner or person entitled to possession thereof maintains a permanent residence, home, or abode" So either she misunderstood the question, as you said, or is not up to speed on the law. Thanks. :)

Posted by Judy G, WA on Friday, February 10, 2012