ID policies and fair housing

ID Fraud
As the owner of a property management company or landlord, there are several liabilities or lawsuits that could fall on your plate during the leasing process. It’s crucial to understand the policies and laws put in place, and how to ensure you’re protecting yourself as well as your tenants. The Fair Housing Act is one that you’ll certainly need to be aware of and be proactive in taking steps to be fully compliant. Allowing an equal opportunity for all residents and prospective residents of your property is key, and ID scanning can help to give your company peace of mind, knowing that the lessers are who they say they are. Keep reading to learn more about the Fair Housing Act and how ID scanning allows your company to remain compliant, without jeopardizing safety or potentially facing rental fraud.

What is the fair housing act?

The Fair Housing Act of 1988 was created to protect the rights of all homeowners, ensuring that property management companies, landlords, banks, and any other providers of housing cannot discriminate or make housing unavailable to persons due to:

  • Race
  • Religion
  • Sex
  • National origin
  • Familial status
  • Disability

When the Fair Housing Act was enacted in 1968, it was primarily to prohibit race discrimination in housing. More than 30 years later, race discrimination is still extremely prevalent in the housing industry. The majority of cases continue to involve some degree of racism. Discrimination based upon sex, including sexual harassment particularly against women with limited housing opportunities, is also increasingly prevalent, and unlawful under this Act. The Act also protects persons with disabilities meaning those with mental or physical impairments. Discrimination based upon national origin, religion, and familial status are also protected under this Act. Additionally, the Fair Housing Act provides procedures that outline how to handle individual cases of discrimination. If force or threat is used to interfere with fair housing rights, the Department of Justice may institute criminal proceedings.

Fair Housing

Why use ID scanning?

To put it simply, ID scanning gives your company, employees, and tenants peace of mind. With our ID verification system, you can scan IDs at the time of the apartment tour, and know within seconds if the ID passes or fails. Our system scans government-issued IDs to match up thousands of lines of code to ensure the ID is valid. This allows for an accurate and objective leasing process. Our ID verification software has protected many property management companies and the multi-family housing industry against rental fraud. Additionally, it provides real-time marketing data that gives insights on customer demographics, move-in-rate, traffic, and beyond.

Contact CheckpointID to request a demo

Ready to learn more about how our ID verification system can help to protect your company and financial assets while providing a fair leasing experience? Contact us to get started! Our team will be able to answer any questions you may have and show you exactly how our easy-to-use, high-tech interface works.