How to Advertise for a Compatible Person Without Using Discriminatory Language

While you are free to share your home with any individual of your choice, it is unlawful to discriminate against applicants in your advertising for a tenant. Advertising can be an ad you place on Craigslist or Roommates.com, or it can by a flyer you leave at the local grocery store or university. “Word of mouth” even counts as advertising.

There is one major exception to the rules that say you can’t discriminate when selecting a tenant. If you are sharing any common living space with a tenant, you can insist that this tenant be the same gender as you. Also, you may advertise for a tenant of your gender.

Although it is unlawful to discriminate against a tenant on the basis of whether he or she has a family including children, you can advertise for and select a single individual to live with you. This is a legal occupancy limit that has the effect of excluding children - but not for reasons that amount to illegal discrimination. Rather, it may be the case that you have room for only one person to reside with you. You can limit the number of tenants in this way.

So, when advertising, you CAN say the following things:

• Looking for a male/female roommate
• Looking for one person only to share a home
• Looking for a person to help with driving to functions on Sundays
• Looking for person to help with chores, including heavy lifting

You CANNOT lawfully say:

• Looking for a white roommate
• Looking for single roommate with no children
• Looking for a Christian who will drive me to church
• Looking for a strong man who can help me with chores

While not every provision of Maine’s anti-discrimination “Fair Housing” laws applies to every landlord who shares a home with a tenant, it is important to make sure that you don’t illegally discriminate while seeking a tenant. For more examples of what questions you should and should not ask, you can review the Maine Human Rights Commission’s “Housing Applicant Inquiry Guide.”

 Updated May 2013