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Fair Housing

Fair Housing Regulations

Members are reminded that as of June 20, 2020, a NYS Fair Housing and Anti-Discrimination Form or link must be provided to clients upon first substantive contact.

A copy of the regulation can be found here.

Fair Housing Disclosure Form
Regulation 19 NYCRR 175.28 requires every licensee to provide the Fair Housing Disclosure Form to every prospective purchaser, tenant, seller, or landlord (for all types of transactions: residential, commercial, vacant land, new construction, etc.) at first substantive contact (the same as the agency disclosure form).

A copy of the Fair Housing Disclosure Form can be found here.

Fair Housing Notice
Regulation 19 NYCRR 175.29 requires every broker’s office and branch office to post the Fair Housing Notice in the window of each broker’s office if other postings of any type are also on the window and if visible to persons on the adjacent sidewalk. If the broker’s office cannot post it in the window, the notice shall be prominently posted in the same location where the business license is posted.

All websites created and maintained by real estate brokers, associate real estate brokers, real estate salespersons, and any real estate team, must prominently and conspicuously display on the homepage of such website a link to the Department of State’s Fair Housing Notice.

A copy of the Fair Housing Notice for posting can be found here.

Fair Housing Amendments
In December 2021, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a series of new fair housing bills into law. The New York State Association of REALTORS® worked with state lawmakers over the last two years to strengthen fair housing laws in New York and is committed to educating REALTORS® about these new laws and regulations.

In Governor Hochul’s approval messages for several of these fair housing laws, the governor included a series of technical amendments, or chapter amendments, to amend certain provisions and effective dates of the laws, which the Legislature has agreed to pass early this year. Click here for a description of the new fair housing laws along with the proposed chapter amendments where applicable.

Standard Operating Procedures Law
The SOP Law requires a real estate broker to provide specific guidance to prospective homebuyers regarding three questions: (1) whether prospective clients shall show identification, (2) whether an exclusive broker agreement is required, and (3) whether pre-approval for a mortgage loan is required. To be clear, a real estate broker is not required to ask for any of these three things.  The real estate broker is simply required to let homebuyers know whether or not they will require any one, two, or three of these items.

There is currently no information as to where on the real estate broker’s website and/or mobile application the Broker’s Procedures are to be posted.  The DOS has always adopted a “clear and conspicuous” standard in other laws and regulations related to required postings on websites and/or mobile applications.  As a best practice, the posting of the Broker’s Procedures should follow the same standard.

Click here for an example of a Standardized Operating Procedure template that a real estate broker can use to summarize the Broker’s Procedures.

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