Fourth Department – Landlord/tenant: Housing Opportunities Made Equal v. DASA Properties LLC

New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department

Landlord/tenant

Discrimination – Lawful source of income

Housing Opportunities Made Equal v. DASA Properties LLC

CA 22-01578

Appealed from Supreme Court, Erie County

Background: The plaintiff sought compensatory and punitive damages for the defendants’ alleged discriminatory conduct based on potential renters’ lawful source of income. The plaintiff sent testers to the defendants’ properties seeking to rent. The testers asked the defendants if they accepted security agreements, which are issued by the Department of Social Services to landlords in the amount of one month’s rent in lieu of a cash deposit. The defendants responded that they accepted those agreements, but that they also required tenants to put down a cash deposit of one-half of a month’s rent for the security deposit. The plaintiffs appealed from the grant of the defendants’ motion to dismiss.

Ruling: The Appellate Division reversed. The court held that the allegations in the amended complaint support the inference that, for a person whose lawful source of income is public assistance, the defendants imposed a different term or condition for the rental than for a person whose lawful source of income was not public assistance.

Jared Waldron, of Civil Rights & Transparency Clinic, for the plaintiff-appellant; Nicholas M. Hriczko, of Chelus, Herdzik, Speyer & Monte, for the defendants-respondents.

Oral argument video