Springfield Landlord Settles for $15K Discrimination Suit
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A non-MassLandlords member has recently settled with the Massachusetts Attorney General for allegations that they sandbagged requests to install a wheelchair ramp for a tenant with a disabled young son.
$11,000 will go to the tenant, $2,000 will go to the Fair Housing Center, $2,000 to the state, and the landlord has already installed the ramp.
Massachusetts law requires a landlord to hear and respond to reasonable requests for accommodation. Reasonableness scales with the size of the landlord and the size of the request. Was it reasonable for this landlord to install a handicapped ramp? Apparently so. At least, it wasn't so unreasonable that the landlord wanted to fight it in court. Is it reasonable for the owner of two-unit building to install a ramp? Perhaps not.
Read more about reasonable accommodations.
