Q: To avoid fair housing problems, always handle maintenance requests on a first-come, first-served basis. True or false?

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Answer: False

In general, communities should adopt policies to handle maintenance and repair requests on a first-come, first-served basis—unless the request involves an emergency. Furthermore, a maintenance or repair request may require immediate attention in some cases if it qualifies as a reasonable accommodation for an individual with a disability.

Explanation: Fair housing law requires housing providers to make exceptions to rules, policies, practices, or services as a reasonable accommodation when necessary to afford a person with a disability the equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. Such reasonable accommodations may include making an exception to your standard first-come, first-served maintenance request response policy to prioritize requests from residents with disabilities.

Moreover, federal enforcement officials stress that communities must respond promptly to reasonable accommodation requests. Failure to respond within a reasonable period is considered a denial of the request, setting the stage for a formal complaint or lawsuit.

Compliance Tip: If a maintenance or repair request is made by a resident with a disability, or sounds as if it’s being made to accommodate a resident’s disability, immediately consider the need to prioritize it.

Focusing your fair housing training efforts exclusively on the leasing process without including maintenance can leave a big hole in your compliance efforts. Our October lesson looks at the many ways in which fair housing claims can arise from maintenance operations, and gives you seven strategies to help ward off problems in your community. “How to Keep Maintenance Staff from Triggering Fair Housing Claims” is available to premium subscribers here.