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.

For each flagged listing, edit the MLS remarks within the MLS-required correction window (typically 24-48 hours of identification). Update syndicated copies on Zillow, Realtor.com, and Redfin where the MLS feed doesn't propagate the change automatically. Notify the listing agent and document the edit for the file.

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.

Capture every accommodation request received this quarter — assistance animals (no breed/weight limits, no pet deposit), accessible parking, alternative communication formats. Note the request, the verification documentation accepted, the response timeline, and the outcome. Denials require a documented undue-burden or fundamental-alteration analysis.

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.

If state-protected classes have changed (source of income, gender identity, military status are recent additions in many states), republish the brokerage policy and require electronic acknowledgment from every licensed agent and unlicensed assistant. Store acknowledgments in the agent file.

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.

The HUD-approved Equal Housing Opportunity poster must be conspicuously displayed in each leasing office, model unit, and the brokerage's main office. Photograph the poster in place and store the image in the audit folder — investigators ask for proof of posting, not just confirmation.

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.

Catalog modification requests — grab bars, ramps, lever hardware, visual smoke alarms — and the response. Modifications are at the resident's expense in most private housing, but denial of permission requires a documented reason. Federally-funded housing reverses the cost burden.

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.

The designated broker reviews findings, captures notes on remediation owed before the next cycle, and signs. The signed record is what the state commission asks for during a routine compliance audit.