Fair Housing disclaimer

Not legal advice

Fairlisted's screening flags phrases that commonly raise Fair Housing concerns in real estate advertising. It is not legal advice, it does not replace review by your broker or a qualified attorney, and a report with no flags does not mean an advertisement is compliant. The agent who publishes remains responsible for its content.

How the rules were built

The rules are reviewed against HUD's Fair Housing advertising guidance under the federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits advertising that indicates a preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status or national origin. Each rule has a category, a reason and a suggested replacement, and rules are stored as versioned data. Every compliance report records the rule-set version used (currently v2).

Severity levels

• Risk — language about who may or may not live in the home (familial status, religion, race or national origin, disability).
• Caution — steering and indirect signals: “safe neighborhood”, school-quality claims, age targeting, gendered terms, houses of worship as landmarks, and outdated terms such as “master”.
• Style — clichés that aren't a legal issue but weaken the copy.

Known limits

• Rules match words and phrases; they can't understand every context. Expect some false positives (dismiss them for a listing) and accept that some problems can be phrased in ways no rule anticipates.
• Federal rules only. Many states and cities protect additional classes (for example source of income, sexual orientation or age). State-specific rules will be added only after legal review.
• The rules cover English-language advertising text, not photos, video or verbal statements.

Questions or a phrase we missed?

Tell us from your account email and we'll review the rule. For a specific listing, ask your broker or a Fair Housing attorney. You can try the screener on any text with the free listing checker.