Housing Discrimination

An owner, lessee, real estate broker, managing agent or anyone else with the right to rent, lease or sell housing may not refuse to rent, lease or sell it, or discriminate in its terms, conditions or privileges or the facilities and services that go with it, because of race, religious creed, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, ancestry or marital status, because the person is a veteran or a member of the armed forces, because the person is blind or hearing impaired or has any other handicap, or because the person has a trained dog guide. The section also bars:

• §G.L. c. 151B, § 4

• Making a written or oral inquiry or record about any of those grounds of a person seeking to rent or buy.
• Publishing a notice or advertisement indicating a preference, limitation or discrimination, including on children, marital status or public assistance recipiency.
• Denying access to a multiple listing service or brokers' organization on those grounds.

• §G.L. c. 151B, § 4

Nor may housing be refused, or its terms made different, because a person has a child or children who will live there, though local, state and federal limits on how many people may occupy a dwelling still apply.

• §G.L. c. 151B, § 4

The rule for other covered housing does not apply to leasing one apartment in a two family dwelling where the owner lives in the other. Age does not cover minors, or residency in elderly housing developments, or in housing for persons 55 or 62 years of age or over that meets the section's terms.

• §G.L. c. 151B, § 4

A complaint to the commission against discrimination is filed within 300 days after the alleged act of discrimination.

• §G.L. c. 151B, § 5