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Prospect Fair Housing Guidelines

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These Fair Housing Guidelines form part of the Lived-In Prospect Terms of Service.

They apply to every Call, including when a topic is introduced casually, indirectly, as a joke, or as a request for a personal opinion.

1. Purpose#

A Lived-In Call may affect your housing decision.

You may ask about honest, firsthand Property experience, but you may not ask a Resident to steer, discourage, favor, exclude, characterize, or recommend housing based on a protected or personal characteristic.

Lived-In’s policy may prohibit conduct more broadly than the minimum requirements of a particular law.

A question may be inappropriate even when you do not intend to discriminate.

2. Protected and Personal Characteristics#

You may not ask for housing recommendations or demographic information based on:

  • Race;
  • Color;
  • National origin;
  • Religion;
  • Sex;
  • Familial status;
  • Disability; or
  • Another characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, county, or local law.

Lived-In also prohibits demographic steering or exclusion based on characteristics such as:

  • Sexual orientation;
  • Gender identity;
  • Marital status;
  • Age;
  • Source of income;
  • Military or veteran status;
  • Language or accent;
  • Immigration assumptions; or
  • Another personal or demographic characteristic.

3. General Rule#

You may ask about any neutral Property-related subject that otherwise complies with the Terms.

You may not ask the Resident to:

  • Describe another person’s protected or personal characteristics;
  • Repeat rumors, assumptions, stereotypes, online comments, or another person’s experience as fact;
  • Generalize from one resident, unit, floor, building, or period of time to an entire group;
  • Identify another person;
  • State or imply that the Resident speaks for the Property or Lived-In;
  • Guarantee safety, accessibility, availability, approval, legal compliance, or another outcome;
  • Provide a professional or legal conclusion;
  • Encourage or discourage you because of a protected or personal characteristic; or
  • Answer a question prohibited elsewhere in these Guidelines.

A Resident is not required to use particular wording or follow a script when declining or redirecting a question.

4. Prohibited Demographic Questions and Implications#

You may not ask the Resident to describe, estimate, speculate about, compare, rank, or imply the demographic composition of the Property, its residents, or the surrounding neighborhood.

Do not ask:

  • Which racial, ethnic, national, religious, family, disability, sex, gender, age, or other demographic groups live at or near the Property;
  • Whether people with a particular background commonly live there;
  • Whether a particular person or household would fit in, belong, feel comfortable, or be welcome;
  • Whether a Property, floor, unit, building, or neighborhood is better suited for a particular group;
  • Whether you should choose or avoid the Property because of the identity or family composition of other people;
  • Whether the presence or absence of a group makes the Property safer, quieter, cleaner, better, worse, more desirable, or less desirable;
  • Where particular groups tend to live within the Property or surrounding area; or
  • For a preference, warning, limitation, or judgment based on a protected or personal characteristic.

These prohibitions apply to:

  • Direct questions;
  • Indirect hints;
  • Coded language;
  • Jokes;
  • Comparisons;
  • Requests for personal opinions;
  • Estimates;
  • Statistics; and
  • Questions framed as curiosity or concern.

5. No Requests for Steering#

Do not ask the Resident whether you should choose or avoid a Property, unit, floor, building, or neighborhood because of a protected or personal characteristic.

Do not ask whether you or another person would be more comfortable elsewhere because of:

  • Identity;
  • Family composition;
  • Religion;
  • Disability;
  • Race or national origin;
  • Sex;
  • Gender;
  • Age; or
  • Another personal characteristic.

Do not ask the Resident to identify areas where particular groups allegedly live or would “fit better.”

A neutral alternative is:

What has your personal experience been with the Property’s common areas and daily routines?

6. Safety and Crime#

You may ask about a specific event the Resident personally experienced or a neutral security procedure the Resident personally observed.

You may not ask the Resident to:

  • Guarantee that the Property or neighborhood is safe;
  • Guarantee that the Property or neighborhood is unsafe;
  • Base a safety opinion on who lives in an area;
  • Associate crime with a race, nationality, religion, family status, disability, sex, gender, or another group;
  • Repeat crime rumors as fact;
  • Describe residents as suspicious, dangerous, or desirable based on demographic characteristics; or
  • Tell you to avoid an area because of the people who live there.

A neutral alternative is:

Have you personally experienced a security-related incident, and what Property procedures have you personally observed?

For objective crime and public-safety information, review official public sources.

7. Families, Children, and Schools#

Do not ask the Resident:

  • Whether the Property is intended for families, adults, singles, students, young professionals, retirees, or people without children;
  • Whether the Property is good or bad for children;
  • Whether children are welcome;
  • Which floors or areas have more or fewer children;
  • Whether a family will be comfortable;
  • About the family composition of residents;
  • To evaluate schools for your household; or
  • To recommend or discourage the Property because you have or do not have children.

You may ask about a neutral physical feature the Resident personally knows, but you must not connect that feature to a demographic recommendation.

A neutral alternative is:

What shared spaces and physical amenities have you personally used?

Official sources and the Property can provide school, occupancy, and policy information.

8. Disability, Accessibility, and Accommodations#

You may ask the Resident to describe a physical feature the Resident personally uses or observes.

You may not ask the Resident to:

  • Decide whether the Property is legally accessible;
  • Decide whether you qualify for an accommodation or modification;
  • Ask for or evaluate medical details;
  • Predict whether an accommodation or modification will be approved;
  • Comment on whether a service or assistance animal is legitimate;
  • Decide whether a particular disability can be accommodated;
  • Recommend that a person with a disability choose another Property; or
  • Give legal or medical advice.

A neutral alternative is:

Can you describe the entrance, elevator, or other physical feature you personally use?

Accessibility, accommodation, modification, and assistance-animal questions should be directed to the authorized Property team.

9. Religion, National Origin, Language, Race, Sex, and Gender#

Do not ask the Resident to:

  • Describe religious institutions to imply who lives in the area;
  • Comment on accents, immigration status, nationality, or language ability;
  • Describe racial or ethnic changes in the Property or neighborhood;
  • Suggest where a person of a particular background should live;
  • Make sexual or gender-based judgments;
  • Use stereotypes to describe residents or management; or
  • Recommend housing based on religion, national origin, language, race, sex, gender, or sexual orientation.

You may ask about neutral Property operations without connecting the answer to a demographic group.

10. Availability, Eligibility, and Approval#

A Resident does not participate in leasing decisions.

Do not ask the Resident to state or speculate whether you are eligible or ineligible to rent.

Do not ask for predictions about:

  • Application approval;
  • Credit requirements;
  • Income requirements;
  • Criminal-history policies;
  • Occupancy limits;
  • Reasonable accommodations;
  • Required documentation;
  • Unit availability;
  • Lease eligibility;
  • Deposits, concessions, or pricing; or
  • Another formal leasing decision.

Direct those questions to the authorized leasing team.

11. Neighborhood and “Fit” Questions#

Questions about whether an area is “good,” “bad,” “safe,” “family-friendly,” “young,” “diverse,” “quiet because of who lives there,” or otherwise suitable may invite demographic steering.

Instead, ask about neutral and specific conditions the Resident personally experienced, such as:

  • Noise at a particular time;
  • Parking availability at a particular time;
  • Walking distance to a specific destination;
  • The Resident’s use of public transportation;
  • The Resident’s experience with deliveries;
  • A specific building procedure; or
  • A particular amenity.

Do not use neutral wording as a pretext to obtain demographic information.

12. Resident’s Right to Decline or Redirect#

The Resident may decline a prohibited question, explain that the topic is restricted, and redirect the conversation.

You may not:

  • Pressure the Resident to answer;
  • Repeatedly rephrase the same prohibited question;
  • Criticize the Resident for following these Guidelines;
  • Threaten a poor rating or complaint because the Resident declined;
  • Offer a benefit in exchange for an answer; or
  • End or disrupt the Call for a discriminatory reason.

A Resident may say:

I can share my firsthand experience with the apartment and everyday life at the Property, but I cannot characterize the residents or recommend housing based on anyone’s personal background. I’m happy to answer a neutral question about my own experience.

13. How to Reframe a Question#

When a question may involve a prohibited topic:

  1. Remove the demographic or protected-characteristic component;

  2. Ask about a specific physical feature, service, policy, event, or personal experience;

  3. Limit the question to what the Resident personally observed; and

  4. Use an official source or the Property for formal legal, leasing, school, crime, accommodation, or eligibility information.

Examples:

Instead of:

Is this a good building for families?

Ask:

What has your personal experience been with noise and common-area use?

Instead of:

Is this a safe neighborhood?

Ask:

Have you personally experienced a security-related incident, and what security procedures have you observed?

Instead of:

Would someone like me fit in here?

Ask:

What does a typical day at the Property look like from your perspective?

14. No Retaliation or Improper Pressure#

You may not retaliate against a Resident because the Resident:

  • Refused to answer a prohibited question;
  • Redirected the discussion;
  • Reported discriminatory conduct;
  • Corrected a stereotype or assumption;
  • Ended a Call for a fair-housing concern; or
  • Provided candid Property information in compliance with these Guidelines.

Report an attempt by the Property, a broker, another participant, or another person to pressure you or the Resident to violate these Guidelines.

15. Reporting and Ending a Call#

Either participant may end a Call when a fair-housing violation is serious or repeated.

Lived-In may intervene or end the Call when necessary.

Promptly report:

  • Repeated prohibited questions;
  • Discriminatory statements;
  • Demographic steering;
  • Retaliation;
  • Pressure to violate these Guidelines; or
  • Another serious fair-housing concern.

16. Consequences#

A material violation may result in:

  • Immediate intervention;
  • Ending the Call;
  • Denial of a refund when permitted by the applicable Policy;
  • Restriction of future bookings;
  • Suspension;
  • Termination;
  • Denial or recovery of a move-in credit obtained through material misconduct; or
  • Another action allowed by the Terms.