Did you know… Discrimination claims are mostly excluded from your business owners policy?

14 Sep Did you know… Discrimination claims are mostly excluded from your business owners policy?

Did you know…

Most all Business Owners Policies (General Liability & Property Coverage) exclude Discrimination claims.

According to the Department of Fair Employment & Housing of California in 2015 there were over 17,915 complaints were filed.  Of these over 5,000 formal discrimination complaints were made.  Most of these complaints against apartment owners were due to disability, retaliation, race and familial status (size of family).   The average settlement in the legal division of the department of fair employment & housing was $28,876 in 2015.  According to the US Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), the most common complaint involved the rental or sale of a property.

Tenant Discrimination Claims for Apartment Owners & Property Managers is on the rise…

Property owners and managers often assume they can avoid tenant discrimination lawsuits by simply avoiding discriminatory behavior.  Recent history has shown, however, that acting in good faith isn’t always enough to prevent costly discrimination lawsuits. It’s a lesson that many good-intentioned property owners and managers have unfortunately learned the hard way.

The number of tenant discrimination claims has skyrocketed in recent years, in large part because tenants can now file discrimination complaints online with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Many of the complaints have at least some basis in fact, but a growing number are simply “nuisance” claims made by tenants with an axe to grind or who hope to make an easy buck by forcing a settlement.  These nuisance lawsuits often leave property owners in a no-win situation: either fight the claim in court and spend a fortune on legal fees or settle out of court in order to make the lawsuit go away. Thankfully, there is another solution—tenant discrimination liability insurance.

How Tenant Discrimination Liability Insurance Can Help…

Tenant discrimination liability insurance protects property owners and managers in the event of a discrimination, harassment or wrongful eviction lawsuit—none of which are covered under a typical general liability insurance policy. After the insured meets the deductible, tenant discrimination liability insurance covers legal costs and damages stemming from the following types of claims:

Discrimination, based on:  Race, Color, Religion, Age, Sex, National Origin, Disability, Pregnancy, Sexual orientation, size of family and more

Harassment, in the following circumstances:  Sexual harassment, Non-sexual harassment, Assault and battery (if related to sexual harassment), Wrongful Eviction

Our program rate schedule:

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It is regrettable that law-abiding property owners are sometimes forced to defend themselves against nuisance tenant discrimination lawsuits, but until the regulatory landscape changes tenant discrimination liability insurance is a property owner’s best defense against discrimination claims.

What are the legal reasons that a landlord can reject a prospective tenant?

According to findlaw.com a landlord must base the selection of tenants on pre-established and objective criteria. A landlord may reject prospective tenants based on a fair screening process that requires all tenants to undergo the same application process. A landlord may consider the following when screening a tenant:

• Credit history
• Income
• History of nonpayment of rent
• Prior bankruptcies
• References
• Some types of criminal convictions BUT not all
• Pets

For more information on this valuable coverage, contact GS Insurance Solutions at (650) 282-3104*1 or email us at aoa@gsisol.com