Thread: One idea on how a rental law could stand up in court

Laws which restrict renting to illegal aliens seem to be difficult to uphold. After reading up on a this I wonder if the following would be legal.

Step 1 : Require licensing of rental units, include state restrictions on occupancy per unit (HUD has some guidelines), include a yearly fee to be paid to the state for inspections. Include health and safety requirements in the regulations that are reasonable.


Step 2 : HUD put out a memo after 9/11 regarding screening of non-US citizens stating that it was requiring prospective residents to provide documentation of their citizenship or immigration status during the screening does not violate the Fair Housing Act. HUD regulations outline the process for collecting and verifying the documents as required by HUD.

Require landlords to use the procedure outlined by HUD.

Step 3 : Create a state tax exemption or rebate via the law to give back part of the funds collected as a license fee if the landlord has complied with the regulations. Lower the licensing fee if the landlord is free from violations for so many years.


This could be refined, I am not a legal authority, but from what I have read this appears to be more difficult to attack. I am in now way advocating limiting rentals to those legally in the US, only to those illegally in the US.

As another point, any alien that is not authorized to work in the US, whether legally present or not, should be considered as fraudulently obtaining an immigration benefit. The right to work in the US by non-citizens is an immigration benefit as I understand it.

It will be a moot point if he enacts citizenship for all of these people. If he does this, we can kiss our country goodbye. We will be overrun with Mexicans that do not have the standards that we have. We will be another 3rd world countr. I long for the days when I was growing up that we didn't have this crap going on.. I am not a racist, but I do not want my country demographic to change.

Besides, is this even legal? I guess it really doesn't matter with this prez. He does what he wants and no one says nay. Congress is going to wake up one day and find themselves reps in name only. They are quickly becoming irrelevant.

Yes tenants should have to identify themselves and they should be able to prove their identity. This is a safety issue. The other tenants in the building have a right to safety. If the landlord rents to illegals, then he/she is renting to people who's background is unknown. What if they are child molestors? It has already been established that neighbors have a right to know this. But illegals could be anyone...no one knows their background. I am tired of no one having rights except illegals. When you rent an apartment for your home, you should have the right to reasonable safety in that home. That safety cannot be established as long as the landlord rents to people who are in the country illegally.

Although I realize the point is moot if Obama were to give amnesty via executive order, I also am not going to act like that is a sure thing.

ABC News had an article on June 15th "Immigrant Students Seeking Executive Order Disappointed After White House Meeting".

It may be that is what the letter is referring to, or it may be Obama disappointed them because he decided he would try to provide total amnesty by by executive order. I do think the best course is to put pressure on both the administration and Congress about any amnesty, no matter how that amnesty would be achieved.

Either way, I should have said in my original post that I in no way advocate restricting all non-citizens from rentals, that was simply what the HUD post was about, but the same documents and regulations could be used to restrict illegal alien rentals alone.

Originally Posted by agrneydgrl

Besides, is this even legal? I guess it really doesn't matter with this prez. He does what he wants and no one says nay. Congress is going to wake up one day and find themselves reps in name only. They are quickly becoming irrelevant.

Once it gets to that point barry will just disband congress and the courts...he'll have no need for them!!