Fair Housing Violations: What Actually Gets Agents Sanctioned
Oct 02, 2026
Most fair housing training tells agents what the law says. Very little of it shows what agents were actually punished for.
So I went through the public record: Justice Department settlements, HUD charges, New York's license decisions, the DC Attorney General's voucher cases, and the license laws in the four places I am licensed.
The pattern is narrower than the training suggests. Agents were sanctioned for a short list of things: what they said about neighborhoods and schools, asking some buyers for things they did not ask of others, refusing vouchers in ads, and passing along an owner's unlawful instruction.
Where I stand: I sell in Northern Virginia and run Jamil Academy, which sells coaching. The blocks below sell my own products. I am not a lawyer, and this is information, not legal advice. A settlement is not a finding of guilt, so where a case settled I say so.
Quick answer
What gets agents sanctioned: steering talk about neighborhoods and schools, unequal requirements such as pre-approval for some buyers only, "no vouchers" in ads where source of income is protected, and carrying out an owner's discriminatory instruction.
Federal penalties: up to $26,262 for a first violation in a HUD administrative case and up to $131,308 in a Justice Department pattern or practice case, on top of damages. A private lawsuit can add punitive damages and attorney's fees.
Your license: fines of up to $2,500 per violation in Virginia and DC, $5,000 in Maryland and $1,000 per day in West Virginia, plus suspension or revocation.
Longer lists: Virginia and Maryland each add five protected classes to the federal seven. DC protects 20 traits. A person generally has one year to file a complaint and two years to sue.
2026: HUD said that discussing crime or schools is not automatically steering. The statute, the regulations, state law and private lawsuits are unchanged.
- What counts as a fair housing violation for a real estate agent
- What the enforcement record shows
- Steering: what agents said about neighborhoods and schools
- Asking some buyers for what you do not ask of others
- Voucher refusals: the largest penalties in the record
- Carrying out a seller's or owner's instruction
- Disability and families with children: where most complaints start
- Check a situation against the rules and the record
- What a sanction costs: fines, your license and your broker
- Virginia, Maryland, DC and West Virginia: the longer lists
- What changed at HUD and NAR in 2025 and 2026, and what did not
- Eight habits that keep you out of the record
- What I could not verify
- Common questions about fair housing violations
What counts as a fair housing violation for a real estate agent
The federal Fair Housing Act protects seven classes: race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status and national origin. The statute itself still says "handicap." Familial status covers households with children under 18, and pregnancy.
For an agent, the Act comes down to seven prohibited acts.
| What you may not do because of a protected class | Where it is |
|---|---|
| Refuse to sell, rent or negotiate, or otherwise make a home unavailable | 42 U.S.C. 3604(a) |
| Offer different terms, conditions or services | 42 U.S.C. 3604(b) |
| Make or publish any statement or ad that indicates a preference or limitation | 42 U.S.C. 3604(c) |
| Say a home is not available when it is | 42 U.S.C. 3604(d) |
| Push owners to sell by pointing to who is moving in (blockbusting) | 42 U.S.C. 3604(e) |
| Discriminate because of disability, or refuse a reasonable accommodation | 42 U.S.C. 3604(f) |
| Coerce, threaten or retaliate against someone for using these rights | 42 U.S.C. 3617 |
Steering is not named in the statute. HUD's regulation defines it:
24 CFR 100.70(a)
Three things agents get wrong
- "I did not mean it that way." The statements rule covers any statement that "indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination." The text asks what the statement indicates, not what you intended, and it covers spoken words.
- "They were not real buyers." HUD's regulation covers false information given "to any person, including testers, regardless of whether such person is actually seeking housing." Most of the cases below began with testers.
- "The owner is exempt." The federal exemption for an owner selling a single-family house applies only if it is sold "without the use in any manner of the sales or rental facilities or the sales or rental services of any real estate broker, agent, or salesman." Once you take the listing, the exemption is gone. The statements rule applies even to exempt owners.
Virginia goes further. Its exemption "shall not apply to or inure to the benefit of any licensee of the Real Estate Board," and that holds "regardless of whether the licensee is acting in his personal or professional capacity." If you hold a Virginia license, you cannot use it even on your own house.
What the enforcement record shows
Start with scale. Most fair housing complaints are about rentals, not sales, and most are about disability, not race.
- HUD's fiscal 2022 annual report, the latest I could open, counts 8,521 complaints filed with HUD and its state and local partner agencies. Disability was a basis in 59.5 percent and race in 28.8 percent.
- In that report, 70 complaints alleged steering, 167 a discriminatory refusal to sell, and 725 discriminatory advertising or statements.
- The National Fair Housing Alliance, an advocacy group, counted 32,321 complaints in 2024. Rentals were 83.56 percent. Real estate sales were 659 complaints, about 2 percent.
Sources: HUD, FY 2022 State of Fair Housing Annual Report, Tables 1.0 and 1.2; National Fair Housing Alliance, 2025 Fair Housing Trends Report.
Few complaints does not mean few violations. Buyers rarely know what another buyer was shown. HUD's last national paired-testing study of race, published in 2013, found that "Black homebuyers who contact agents about recently advertised homes for sale learn about 17.0 percent fewer available homes than equally qualified whites and are shown 17.7 percent fewer homes."
That is why testing drives enforcement in sales.
The conduct, ranked by the cases I found
I grouped every case against an agent or brokerage that I could confirm on an official page. This is a count of what I found, not a national statistic.
| Conduct | Cases | Largest outcome I found |
|---|---|---|
| Refusing vouchers (all in DC) | 7 | $10 million, and a broker gave up her licenses for 15 years |
| Steering by commentary, or by which homes were offered | 7 | $160,000 settlement; one license revoked |
| Statements, ads and refusals about children | 5 | $74,000 consent order |
| Requirements imposed on some buyers only | 3 | License revoked; $65,000 settlement |
| Disability and assistance animals | 3 | $50,000 from an agent and her brokerage |
| Carrying out a seller's racial preference | 2 | $35,000 |
Cases from justice.gov, hud.gov, ag.ny.gov, dos.ny.gov and oag.dc.gov, read 2 October 2026. Some cases fall in more than one row, and not all are described below.
What the record supports
- On the sales side, two behaviors account for most sanctions: commentary about neighborhoods and schools, and asking some buyers for things not asked of others.
- The largest penalties went to voucher refusals in rentals.
- License loss is rare but real. I found a revocation in New York and a 15-year surrender in DC.
- I found no recent blockbusting case against a sales agent.
Steering: what agents said about neighborhoods and schools
HUD's regulation gives examples of steering. Three of them describe ordinary agent conversation:
- "Discouraging any person from inspecting, purchasing or renting a dwelling" because of a protected class, or because of the protected class "of persons in a community, neighborhood or development."
- Discouraging a purchase, because of a protected class, "by exaggerating drawbacks or failing to inform any person of desirable features of a dwelling or of a community, neighborhood, or development."
- "Communicating to any prospective purchaser that he or she would not be comfortable or compatible with existing residents" because of a protected class.
24 CFR 100.70(c)(1) to (3).
Long Island, 2019 to 2023
In November 2019 Newsday published a paired-testing investigation of Long Island agents. It reported evidence of unequal treatment of Black testers 49 percent of the time, Hispanic testers 39 percent and Asian testers 19 percent. Those are the newspaper's findings, not a court's. The official outcomes were mixed.
| Who | What the state said happened | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Laffey Real Estate | A Black homebuyer had to get mortgage pre-approval before viewing homes; a white homebuyer did not | Settlement, August 2022: $30,000 to the State and $35,000 to Suffolk County |
| Two Keller Williams offices | An agent warned a white buyer off an area citing gang violence and told a Black buyer the same area had "the nicest people" | Settlement, August 2022: $25,000, plus up to $25,000 on training |
| Coldwell Banker | Agents allegedly warned white buyers about neighborhood diversity and sent a Black buyer to more diverse areas | Settlement, March 2023: $20,000 in penalties and $10,000 to Suffolk County |
| A salesperson | Gave a minority tester demographic and school information and steered the tester toward two towns | License deemed revoked by a November 2021 decision; it had already expired |
| An associate broker | Charged by the Department of State | Complaint dismissed, August 2021 |
New York Attorney General releases of 30 August 2022 and 15 March 2023; New York Department of State hearing decisions of 30 August and 22 November 2021.
What steering sounded like
An agent to a white buyer, New York Attorney General, 30 August 2022
An agent steering white buyers away from diverse school districts, same release
Justice Department steering cases
In 2010, two Atlanta-area firms operating under the Coldwell Banker name and a former agent paid $160,000 to settle steering allegations built on testing. The government said the agent used words to the effect of "I didn't know if you were a Caucasian or not over the phone." A firm doing business as RE/MAX East-West near Chicago settled similar allegations for $120,000 in 2009.
Can you still talk about schools and crime?
On April 24, 2026, HUD's Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing sent a "Dear Colleague" letter that says:
HUD Dear Colleague letter, 24 April 2026
It keeps the limit: "it is unlawful for realtors to treat their clients differently based on race or guide their clients with racial language."
The letter also tells HUD's state partner agencies not to find discrimination where agents share such data "in an equal and consistent manner." NAR answered five days later that its guidance has long encouraged members to share "objective, factual information about schools and crime, provided by a reliable third-party source," and added a warning:
NAR Washington Report, 29 April 2026
A letter does not bind a court or a private plaintiff. And each Long Island settlement involved different treatment of different buyers, which the letter does not protect.
Same information, same source, every client. Send the school district's own page and the police department's own data to everyone who asks, and leave out your opinion. I cover the scripted version in crime and school data on camera.
Asking some buyers for what you do not ask of others
This is the quiet one. Nobody says anything offensive. An agent simply runs a tighter process for some buyers than for others. HUD's regulation covers it:
24 CFR 100.60(b)(4)
How it showed up in the cases
- Pre-approval for some. In the Laffey settlement, a Black homebuyer had to get mortgage pre-approval before seeing homes. A white homebuyer did not.
- An exclusivity agreement for some. In the Keller Williams settlement, an agent required a Black buyer to sign an exclusivity agreement before touring, but showed homes to a white buyer immediately.
- A buyer's agreement for some. The New York salesperson above required the minority tester to sign a buyer's agreement before tours, but not the white tester.
The requirement itself was lawful each time. The selectivity was the violation.
The same risk sits in every choice left to your judgment: how fast you call back, whether you ask for proof of funds or ID, and which areas you suggest. Write one policy and apply it to everyone.
Safety policies are the hardest case. A policy applied to the visitors who make you uneasy and waived for the rest is a record of unequal treatment. I go through that in ID policies at open houses.
Voucher refusals: the largest penalties in the record
Source of income is not a federal protected class. It is protected in Virginia, Maryland and DC, and the largest penalties I found against licensees came from it.
- DC: the Human Rights Act says Section 8 assistance "shall be considered a source of income."
- Virginia: "source of funds" means "any source that lawfully provides funds to or on behalf of a renter or buyer of housing, including any assistance, benefit, or subsidy program."
- Maryland: the HOME Act added source of income on October 1, 2020, including vouchers.
- West Virginia: the state Fair Housing Act does not list it.
Virginia has a small-owner exemption. An owner, or the owner's managing agent, may turn down a source of funds if the owner has no more than four rental units in Virginia. The exemption is lost if the owner holds more than a 10 percent interest in more than four units. Before you repeat an owner's "no vouchers" in a listing, find out how many units that owner has.
The DC cases
In July 2020 the DC Attorney General filed eight lawsuits against 16 real estate companies and professionals over online ads that refused vouchers. These outcomes come from those suits and others the office brought.
| Who | The ad | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| A brokerage and one of its salespersons | "The owner is not approved for the Housing Voucher Program." | $40,000 settlement, October 2021 |
| A brokerage and one of its salespersons | "No Section 8." | $7,500 from the salesperson and $1,000 from the firm, October 2021 |
| Three other firms | Voucher refusals in ads | Settlements of $20,792, $20,000 and $8,424, August 2021 |
| A broker and his firm | An ad stating "Not approved for vouchers," posted on several sites | Court order, May 2022: $158,000 in civil penalties, counted for each day the ad was online, plus $79,490.80 in fees and costs |
| DARO, a property management company, and its principal broker | Refusing some voucher programs and setting tougher terms for voucher holders, the Attorney General alleged | Consent order, October 2022: $10 million. The broker agreed to surrender her DC licenses and not reapply for 15 years |
DC Attorney General releases of 23 July 2020, 19 August 2021, 27 October 2021, 15 June 2022 and 20 October 2022, and the DARO consent order.
What this means on the sales side
Most of this is rental work. But the Virginia definition says "renter or buyer," so judge an offer that relies on an assistance program on its terms, like any other.
If you place rental ads for owners, your name is on the ad. The platforms have their own rules, which I cover in how ad targeting becomes a fair housing question.
Carrying out a seller's or owner's instruction
In these cases the government alleged that the discrimination started with an owner or an association, and that the agent went along. The agent was named in the case.
| Case | What the government alleged | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago area, 2011 | A seller told his agent he would prefer not to sell to an African American. The agent relayed the sellers' refusal to a Black family and took the home off the market | The agent and two firms paid $30,000 without admitting a violation |
| Wisconsin, 2008 | A seller did not want to sell to a Black buyer, and her agent amended the listing to block the showing | $30,000 and $5,000 to two people |
| Atlanta, 2010 | A condo association had a "no-child policy." The listing firm advertised it and refused to show the unit to buyers with children | $60,000, including a $25,000 civil penalty |
| Puerto Rico, 2022 to 2025 | An owner would not allow a guide dog. The agent told a legally blind applicant that pets were prohibited | $12,000 and a new accommodation policy |
U.S. Department of Justice case pages and releases; HUD release 22-087. All four were allegations resolved by settlement or consent order.
Why "I was only passing it on" fails
HUD's regulation lists, as a violation, "Expressing to agents, brokers, employees, prospective sellers or renters or any other persons a preference for or limitation on any purchaser or renter" because of a protected class. The moment the owner says it to you, the owner has a problem. The moment you act on it or repeat it, you have one too.
What to say
To a seller who states a preference
- Tell your broker the same day, in writing.
- Do not put the preference in the MLS, in agent remarks, or in a text to anyone.
- If the owner will not drop it, withdraw. A lost listing costs less than any case above.
The regulations also protect you for refusing. It is unlawful to take "adverse action against an employee, broker or agent because he or she refused to participate in a discriminatory housing practice."
Disability and families with children: where most complaints start
Disability was a basis in 59.5 percent of the complaints in HUD's fiscal 2022 report. If you handle rentals or sell in condo and HOA communities, this is where your exposure is.
Assistance animals
It is unlawful "to refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford a handicapped person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling unit, including public and common use areas." HUD's own example in that regulation is a blind applicant with a seeing eye dog in a no-pets building.
HUD withdrew its two assistance animal guidance documents in September 2025. That is not permission to refuse. The regulation and its guide dog example are still in force, and the Puerto Rico settlement above was signed in July 2025.
Disability in a sale
In Hawaii, HUD charged a condo association, its management company, unit owners and a real estate agent after they allegedly refused to sell a unit to a man with paraplegia. In orders entered in 2024 and 2025 the defendants agreed to pay $162,500 without admitting liability. The sellers' agent and her brokerage paid $50,000 of it.
Families with children
- Minnesota, 2019. HUD alleged that a broker, a property management firm and owners refused to rent to a family "because they are Native American and Hispanic, and had minor children." Consent order: $74,000.
- California, 2020. A leasing agent told a father whose two daughters lived with him part-time: "I don't want to waste your time or mine. Sorry." Conciliation: $10,000. The respondents denied discrimination.
HUD releases 19-022 and 20-036.
On the sales side, familial status trouble usually arrives through words: "adults only," "no children," "perfect for empty nesters." I keep a table of the listing words to avoid and what to write instead.
Age-restricted communities need a federal exemption. See the rules for 55 and older communities.
Check a situation against the rules and the record
Pick where the property is and tick anything that describes what happened. The tool shows the rule, what happened to agents in the cases above, and the protected classes, license penalty and complaint deadline there.
Matches a situation to the rule and to the cases in this article, as read on 2 October 2026. It cannot tell you whether a law was broken. Nothing you tick leaves this page.
"Rule" is where an investigator would start. "Record" is what happened in real cases, most of them settlements. A match is a reason to talk to your broker today, not a verdict.
What a sanction costs: fines, your license and your broker
A case can cost you in four places: a government penalty, damages to the person, your license, and your association membership. They stack.
Federal penalties
| Route | Maximum civil penalty | Also available |
|---|---|---|
| HUD administrative case | $26,262 with no prior violation; $65,653 with one in the past five years; $131,308 with two or more in the past seven | Actual damages, including for "humiliation and embarrassment" |
| Justice Department pattern or practice case | $131,308 for a first violation; $262,614 for a later one | Monetary damages to the people harmed |
| Private lawsuit | None | Actual and punitive damages, plus attorney's fees |
24 CFR 180.671 and 180.670; 28 CFR 85.5; 42 U.S.C. 3613. HUD announced in September 2026 that it is making no inflation adjustment for 2026.
The agent cases I found settled for far less than the maximums: most between $10,000 and $160,000, with two or three years of training and reporting attached.
Your license
| Where | The disciplinary hook | Fine per violation |
|---|---|---|
| Virginia | Being found by a court or administrative body to have violated the Virginia Fair Housing Act or the fair housing laws of any U.S. jurisdiction | Up to $2,500 |
| Maryland | Violating the Commission's code of ethics, which bars discrimination, or the blockbusting and steering sections of the license law | Up to $5,000 |
| DC | A violation of the Human Rights Act as determined by the Commission on Human Rights, the Mayor or a court | Up to $2,500 |
| West Virginia | Discriminating "in violation of any federal or state anti-discrimination law, including any fair housing law" | Up to $1,000 per day per violation |
18VAC135-20-260(8) and Va. Code 54.1-202; Md. Business Occupations and Professions 17-322 and COMAR 09.11.02.01; D.C. Code 47-2853.197; W. Va. Code 30-40-19 and 30-40-7. Each board can also suspend or revoke.
Notice the Virginia wording. It reaches a final finding by a court or agency anywhere in the country. A final fair housing finding against you in Maryland is grounds for discipline on your Virginia license.
Your association
If you are a Realtor, Article 10 of the Code of Ethics adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the federal list. A hearing panel can recommend a fine "not to exceed $15,000," suspension for 30 days to one year, or expulsion for one to three years.
Your brokerage and your insurance
Your brokerage is liable for what you do. HUD's regulation says a person is "vicariously liable for a discriminatory housing practice by the person's agent or employee, regardless of whether the person knew or should have known of the conduct that resulted in a discriminatory housing practice, consistent with agency law." The Supreme Court held in Meyer v. Holley in 2003 that this liability normally falls on the company, not on its officers or owners personally.
Do not assume your errors and omissions policy covers this in full. Two state group programs I could read, Louisiana's and a 2021 Iowa brochure, limit fair housing claims to $25,000.
Virginia, Maryland, DC and West Virginia: the longer lists
The federal list is the floor. Each place I am licensed adds to it, and the additions are where agents who learned only the federal seven get caught.
| Protected beyond the federal seven | Complaints go to | Fair housing CE | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | Elderliness (age 55 and over), source of funds, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status | The Real Estate Board, through DPOR's Fair Housing Office, when a licensee is involved | 2 hours each license term |
| Maryland | Marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, source of income, military status | Maryland Commission on Civil Rights | 2 hours every two years, since 1 October 2025 |
| DC | 13 more, including age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, matriculation, political affiliation, source of income and homeless status | DC Office of Human Rights | 3 hours in the 2023 to 2025 cycle |
| West Virginia | Ancestry and blindness | West Virginia Human Rights Commission | None specific |
Va. Code 36-96.1, 36-96.1:1, 54.1-2344 and 54.1-2105.03; Md. State Government 20-702 and 20-1021, Business Occupations and Professions 17-315; D.C. Code 2-1402.21 and 2-1403.04; W. Va. Code 16B-18-5, 16B-18-11 and 30-40-16.
In all four, the deadline to file an administrative complaint is generally one year, and a private lawsuit can generally be filed within two years.
Virginia
- "Elderliness" means a person who has reached age 55. An age preference in an ad is a Virginia issue even though age is not a federal class.
Maryland
- Maryland's blockbusting statute bars inducing a sale with representations about a change in the "racial, religious, or ethnic character" of an area or "a decline in the quality of schools serving the area."
- Blockbusting is also a crime there: a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $5,000, up to a year in jail, or both, for a first offense.
DC
- It names licensees directly: it is a violation "for any real estate broker, real estate salesperson, or property manager to commit any act of discrimination prohibited by this unit."
- Civil penalties run from $10,000 to $50,000 depending on prior violations.
West Virginia
- Sexual orientation, gender identity and source of income are not on the state list.
What changed at HUD and NAR in 2025 and 2026, and what did not
A lot moved in eighteen months.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| April 2025 | Executive Order 14281 directed agencies to deprioritize enforcement based on disparate impact, meaning a neutral policy with an unequal effect |
| June 5, 2025 | NAR rewrote Standard of Practice 10-5. The 2020 version barred "harassing speech, hate speech, epithets, or slurs." The new one bars harassment by Realtors "in their capacity as real estate professionals" |
| September 17, 2025 | HUD withdrew eight guidance documents, including those on digital advertising, assistance animals, criminal records and limited English proficiency |
| January 14, 2026 | HUD proposed removing its disparate impact rule, 24 CFR 100.500. On September 30, 2026 the rule was still on the books |
90 FR 17537; NAR, 2026 Code of Ethics; 91 FR 17291; 91 FR 1475.
What did not change
- The statute. HUD's own withdrawal notice says: "Any actions that do not comply with the text of the Fair Housing Act continue to be subject to enforcement by the Department."
- The regulations agents are charged under. The steering, statements, terms and accommodation rules were all in force on September 30, 2026.
- State and local law. Virginia, Maryland, DC and West Virginia enforce their own statutes, with their own lists.
- Private lawsuits. A buyer, a renter or a fair housing group can sue without HUD.
Federal enforcement has narrowed toward clear cases of different treatment. That is exactly what the sanctions in this article were for.
Eight habits that keep you out of the record
None of these agents were sanctioned for not knowing the protected classes. They were sanctioned for habits.
- Let the buyer's criteria run the search. Search on the price, size and commute the buyer gave you, and save the search. It is the best evidence that you did not choose the neighborhoods.
- Send sources, not opinions. For schools and crime, send the district's page and the police data, the same links to every client who asks.
- Keep one intake policy, in writing. Decide once what you require before a showing and apply it to every buyer.
- Describe the property, never the person. If a listing remark describes the buyer you imagine, cut it.
- Check the source of income rule before you post a rental. In Virginia, Maryland and DC, "no vouchers" can be a violation with your name on it.
- Refuse the instruction, in writing. When an owner states a preference, say no and email your broker the same day.
- Treat every caller as a tester. Offer the same homes and quote the same terms.
- Tell your broker early. HUD's regulation makes a firm directly liable for failing "to take prompt action to correct and end a discriminatory housing practice" by its agent once it knew or should have known.
Do not reply to the agency yourself or contact the person who complained. Give the letter to your broker that day, and keep every text, email and saved search for that client. Retaliating against someone for filing is a separate violation.
What I could not verify
- Newsday's own figures. The newspaper's site would not open for me. The percentages above come from a reprint of its findings.
- Any published license order on fair housing grounds from the Virginia, Maryland, DC or West Virginia regulators.
- HUD's fiscal 2023 annual report. It is listed on HUD's site but would not open for me, so the complaint figures are from fiscal 2022.
- NAR's June 2026 questions and answers on steering, crime and schools. I could not read the answers, so I quote only NAR's April statement.
Common questions about fair housing violations
What is the most common fair housing violation by real estate agents?
In the cases I could confirm, sales agents were most often sanctioned for steering through comments about neighborhoods and schools, and for asking some buyers for things such as pre-approval that they did not ask of others. The largest penalties were for refusing housing vouchers in DC rentals.
Can a real estate agent lose their license for a fair housing violation?
Yes. Virginia, Maryland, DC and West Virginia all make it a ground for discipline, including suspension or revocation. In the record I found, a New York salesperson's license was deemed revoked by a 2021 decision and a DC broker surrendered her licenses for 15 years in 2022.
What is the penalty for a fair housing violation?
In a HUD administrative case the civil penalty is up to $26,262 for a first violation and up to $131,308 with two or more prior violations. In a Justice Department pattern or practice case it is up to $131,308 for a first violation. Damages are added on top, and a private lawsuit can include punitive damages and attorney's fees.
Is it steering to talk about schools or crime?
Not by itself. A HUD letter of 24 April 2026 says agents do not violate the Fair Housing Act merely by discussing crime or school quality. It is steering to give different information to different clients because of a protected class. Send every client the same objective sources and leave out your opinion.
Is source of income a protected class?
Not under federal law. It is protected in Virginia, where it is called source of funds, in Maryland and in DC. It is not on West Virginia's list. Virginia exempts most owners with no more than four rental units.
How long does someone have to file a fair housing complaint?
Generally one year to file with HUD or with the state agencies in Virginia, Maryland, DC and West Virginia, and two years to file a lawsuit.
Saad Jamil is a top 1 percent Realtor with Samson Properties in Chantilly, Virginia, licensed in Virginia, DC, Maryland and West Virginia since 2013, with more than $500 million in career sales and 900+ homes closed. His reviews are on his Zillow profile. He runs Jamil Academy, which sells coaching. This is information, not legal advice. The statutes, regulations and cases quoted here were checked on 2 October 2026. For a real situation, talk to your broker and a fair housing attorney.
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