Massachusetts AG Scores In Housing Discrimination Rental Cases

Excerpts of three press releases from the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. In the first case:

• Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office obtained a judgment against Thomas Dooley, III, a Beacon Hill real estate broker and his company, Y2K Realty, Inc. dba Louisburg Properties, which resolves claims that he and his company violated state antidiscrimination laws by discriminating against a prospective tenant who had a housing subsidy. “Realtors, brokers and landlords in Massachusetts need to understand that discrimination against housing subsidy holders is illegal,” said Attorney General Coakley.

• The complaint [alleged that the landlord] rejected a prospective tenant who responded to an advertisement for a Beacon Hill apartment because he held a Section 8 housing assistance voucher. Under Massachusetts law, it is illegal to discriminate against housing applicants because they receive public assistance.

For more, see Attorney General Martha Coakley Obtains Judgment Against Realtor In Housing Discrimination Case.

In the second case:

• Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office entered into a consent judgment with two Malden landlords resolving claims that they violated state anti-discrimination and lead paint laws by discriminating against a family and their young son who lived in the landlords’ property. [...] The complaint, [...] , alleges that landlords Michael McCarthy, and his wife Marijane, discriminated against the family by attempting to evict them after a lead inspection revealed illegal and hazardous levels of lead in the family’s apartment, and after the family filed a housing discrimination complaint against them with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (“MCAD”). The complaint further alleges that after the McCarthy’s were ordered to remove the lead, they attempted to raise the family’s rent by nearly double.

• Under Massachusetts law, it is illegal to discriminate against persons because their household includes children under the age of six. It is also illegal to retaliate or discriminate against persons because their presence requires compliance with the lead paint laws. The law requires that landlords abate lead conditions when a child under six resides on the premises.

For more, see Attorney General Martha Coakley Obtains Judgment Against Malden Landlords In Housing Discrimination Case.

In the third case:

• Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office filed a consent judgment late [Monday] to resolve claims that a Roslindale landlord violated state antidiscrimination laws by posting a rental advertisement on the internet that discriminated against recipients of Section 8 housing subsidies in order to avoid compliance with the Commonwealth’s Lead Paint Law. The judgment [...] requires the landlord to pay $10,000 in compensatory damages. The judgment also requires the landlord to abate any lead paint hazards in the rental unit.

• Under Massachusetts law, it is illegal to discriminate against housing applicants because they receive public assistance. It also is illegal for a landlord to refuse to rent to a prospective tenant because the unit may contain lead paint hazards, or because the rental would trigger duties under the Massachusetts Lead Paint Law or regulations.

For more, see Attorney General Martha Coakley Obtains Judgment Against Roslindale Landlord In Housing Discrimination Case.