State Specific Question About: MISSOURI (MO)

My rental policies say "Each adult’s gross monthly income must equal no less than three times the monthly rent. Spousal income may be combined to meet this requirement."

In other words, each adult tenant must meet the minimum income requirement individually. If they are married, however, their incomes can be combined to meet this requirement.

I have done research to try and make sure this is not discriminatory. I don't want couples who are shaking up, or roommates, complaining that I discriminate against them.

Can anyone confirm this is not discriminatory? I'm so freaked out about discrimination laws that if there's any question, I will simply drop the second sentence about spouses being able to combine their incomes and simply require ALL adult tenants to meet the income requirement on their salary alone. But this means a married couple with a child where the wife stays home and only the husband words cannot rent my property.

Thanks - Yes, I knew it was illegal in CA. But I did not think it was illegal in MO.

I would say the "spousal income" would be considered discriminatory of familial status. I believe familial status was supposed to protect families with children, but it could possibly apply to unmarried couples.

Is it discriminatory? Absolutely.

But discrimination is legal in many cases, of course. You're allowed to discriminate against people without any income, for example. If you have a non-smoking unit, you can discriminate against people that smoke.

The question is generally "are they a protected class?" Then discrimination becomes illegal. As Deena said, it looks like you are fine in your state. Federal laws do not prohibit discrimination based on marital status (with the possible exception of some public housing situations).

So, you likely don't even have to be tricky about it with the income requirement thing. From my understanding, you could just flat out say that you only accept couples if they are married, for example.

All that being said, I likely wouldn't do this myself and I think it is risky ground. It is a matter of time before the law likely changes on this. (Some argue that Missouri law actually already prohibits this, but just isn't being enforced properly.)

Also, when you have same-sex partners, you could run into an issue here. You could deny them because they are not married (or refuse to count both of their incomes as you do for spouses). I could easily see someone arguing that since they cannot get married, you are discriminating against them based on sexual preference, not marriage status, which IS prohibited discrimination!

So, whether or not it is worth it is your call to me. This is one of those situations where even though you COULD do it, I don't think that I WOULD do it. :)

- John...

P.S. I am not a lawyer nor expert in Missouri law. Your mileage may vary. Look both ways before crossing. Do not divide by zero.

Kyle: In SOME states, the federal "familial status" clause has been interpreted to include married/unmarried status -- but Missouri is not one of them.

- John...

INCOME is the one thing we CAN discriminate for.

All - thanks for your responses. I am happy to rent to unmarried couples, including those who are gay, or roommates.

FYI, my property is a condo. Per the condo's by-laws, I am not allowed to rent to more than 2 people unless all of them "are members of the same family". So I am prohibited from renting to an unmarried or gay couple with children, or any other two individuals who are unrelated and want a 3rd person to live with them.

That aside, I prefer to avoid situations where there are two adults, neither of whom could afford the place on their own, but together can afford it. I realize this will limit me in the number of applicants and qualified tenants I'll get. I'm OK with that.

My problem is this. If my rental policies say "all adults must meet minimum income requirement individually", what happens if a husband and wife with a baby come along and she stays home to care for the child while he works (and earns enough to meet the income requirement)?

Will they accuse me of discriminating against families if I won't rent to them because technically, they don't meet my qualifications (since she doesn't work and can't meet income requirement)? Seems like a catch-22 to me.

It sounds like by the by-laws that the 2 people can be unrelated, just the 3rd cannot.

So unmarried couple with 2 children, the children are going to be related (by birth, guardianship, adoption, etc) to at least one of those adults. Bam. Family.

Personally, I think your HOA's clause is likely illegal.

Basically, if an unmarried couple WITHOUT children wants to move in, then they are acceptable. But if an unmarried couple WITH a child wants to move in, then your HOA would not allow it, correct?

I think that is clearly prohibited discrimination based on familial status. That is exactly what that "rule" does.

Either that -- or they get around it with by saying "family" -- but in THAT case, I would argue that almost ANYONE qualifies. Two unmarried people that live together with a child are a "family" to me. So they should be allowed.

So, if they define "family" explicitly and the unmarried+child would be disallowed, I would argue that the clause is illegal. If they don't define "family" that way, then almost anyone is a family and you don't have to worry about this.

I would go to an HOA meeting and say something along the lines of "I'm confused by this rule. Isn't saying that an unmarried couple without kids is fine but the same couple WITH a child is not fine a violating of federal law?" -- and see how quickly that gets amended. :)

- John...

I don't know, is my answer.

Why have a written policy? It seems to me that this can only be used against you and can not help. Your hands will be tied whenever you believe an exception should be made.

Slippery slope. What is considered a spouse? In many states after cohabitating for a period (3 months in Texas) you are considered married by common law and subject to all the rights granted.

Thanks again for your thoughts. John - your mentioning that the HOA's guidelines might be illegal has caused me to consider whether they just might be illegal. I will look into that. I assumed "members of the same family" meant "everybody has the same last name". But I should get clarification from the HOA and I may ask them exactly what you suggested asking.

Kyle - your recommendation is a great one and I will think about that. Not quite sure how I would word it. If you have suggestions, please share them.

Ken: I think you are exactly right. We actually have that for our duplex which is within the city limits of a college town. The licensing says that we can't have "more than two UNRELATED" people in the unit.

- John...