Fair Housing Compliance Audit

Pull every active and recently-closed MLS listing the brokerage represented this quarter. Flag any descriptions referencing protected classes or proxies — "perfect for a young family," "walking distance to St. Mary's," "adult community" outside HOPA-qualified properties, "master bedroom" in MLSs that have retired the term. Steering language in remarks is the most common citation in commission audits.

HUD requires the EHO logo or slogan on print ads, yard signs, brochures, and digital marketing where space allows. Check the brokerage website footer, agent bio pages, listing flyers, and social media banner art. Brokerage name and license number must accompany agent advertising under most state license laws.

Sample agent Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube posts from the quarter. Watch for neighborhood characterizations ("good area / bad area"), school-quality framing volunteered without a buyer asking, and reels that filter buyer-prospect questions through demographic assumptions. Document examples for the next training cycle.

Export rental applications and buyer-rep agreements processed this quarter from Dotloop, SkySlope, or your transaction management system. Sample at minimum 20% of files, weighted toward properties with multiple applicants where comparative review is most informative.

Confirm the published screening criteria — credit score minimums, income multiple, prior eviction lookback — were applied identically across applicants for the same unit. Source-of-income discrimination (refusing Section 8) is now prohibited in many jurisdictions; check your state and city protections before signing off.

Block the date on the brokerage calendar and confirm the trainer or course provider. Many state commissions require fair housing CE every renewal cycle; this audit is the cadence to confirm every licensee on the roster will satisfy the requirement before their individual renewal date.

For REALTOR-member agents, NAR's Code of Ethics now incorporates fair housing under Article 10 with mandatory implicit bias training. Pull the Fairhaven simulation and bias training completion records from the local board portal and reconcile against the active agent roster.

HUD's Keating Memo treats two-persons-per-bedroom as a baseline reasonable standard, but unit size, configuration, and local code can shift the analysis. Stricter occupancy limits frequently surface as familial-status discrimination claims. Document the reasoning for any standard tighter than 2-per-bedroom.

Walk the leasing office, model unit, parking, mail kiosk, and any clubhouse or pool. Confirm path-of-travel, door hardware, signage, and reachable counter heights. Covered multifamily built after March 1991 must meet FHA accessibility design requirements; older buildings still owe reasonable modification at the resident's expense.

Export work orders from AppFolio, Buildium, or Propertyware for the quarter. Include open, closed, and reopened tickets. The log is the primary evidence in any disparate-treatment maintenance complaint.

Group similar work orders (HVAC, plumbing, appliance) and check whether response and completion times cluster differently across buildings or tenant cohorts. Significant variance not explained by parts availability or contractor scheduling is the pattern fair-housing testers and HUD investigators look for.

Pull every internal complaint, online review mentioning bias or discrimination, and tester contact reported this quarter. Even an unfounded complaint becomes evidence of process — what was logged, who investigated, how the resolution was communicated.

HUD complaints arrive as a Form 903 letter from the regional FHEO office; state agency inquiries arrive through the state civil rights division or real estate commission. The 100-day investigation clock starts from HUD's acknowledgment, not from your response.

Loop in the designated REALTOR and the brokerage's E&O carrier the same day the inquiry arrives — most policies require prompt notice as a coverage condition. Do not respond substantively to the agency before counsel reviews; informal responses become admissions.