‘Singles only’ won’t fly; room size dictates number of renters

Question: I recently remodeled a house into one-bedroom rental units. I want to rent to singles only. Is that legal?

Answer: You cannot rent only to single tenants.

Under California guidelines, a reasonable occupancy limit is considered to be twice the number of bedrooms, plus one additional person for the rental as a whole.

Under this formula, a one-bedroom unit would fit three people, a two-bedroom unit would fit five people, and so forth.

More restrictive limits may be considered discriminatory because of the disparate effect they have on families with children.

However, Section 503(b) of the Uniform Housing Code states that any room used for sleeping for two people must be at least 70 square feet and the minimum floor area must increase by 50 square feet for each additional person.

Moreover, every residential unit must have at least one room that is at least 120 square feet.

Therefore, if the bedrooms or overall units are especially small, you may be able to limit the occupancy to two people.

Restricting the units to single occupancy, however, will always be seen as overly restrictive because of the more negative effect on families with children.

As such, you should also avoid any statements or advertising that discourages families with children who are seeking housing.

Don’t judge tenant by English fluency

Question: I manage a large apartment complex and receive many applications from immigrants who speak limited English or none at all. It is very difficult to conduct business with them even if they have friends or relatives translating. The owner is concerned that a non-English-speaking tenant would be disruptive and has told me not to rent to such a person. Can I refuse an applicant just because he or she does not speak English?

Answer: You should not refuse an applicant just because he or she does not speak English because such actions would be discriminatory based on national origin.

National origin is a protected category under federal and state fair housing laws, and it is illegal for landlords to refuse a rental, hold an applicant to different eligibility standards, or evict a tenant because of national origin.

There are three main reasons for which you can legally refuse to rent to an applicant: lack of adequate income, poor credit history and poor rental history. However, these standards must be applied equally to all applicants.

An applicant’s lack of ability to speak English is directly related to national origin and if you refuse to rent to that person solely for this reason, it could be considered discrimination.

Landlord can’t bar Indian cooking

Question: My parents recently arrived from India for a six-month stay. My mother is cooking Indian dishes. I received a notice from the apartment manager that my neighbors have complained about the odors and said I must stop cooking this type of food. Is this notice valid?

Answer: No. California and federal fair housing laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of national origin. This means that housing providers and managers cannot set different terms for tenants on the basis of their ancestry. Telling you not to cook Indian food is discrimination based on national origin.

However, it would not be unreasonable for the manager to relay any complaints about the odors, as long as the goal is to improve neighborly relations.

This column is prepared by Project Sentinel, a rental housing mediation service in Sunnyvale, Calif. Questions may be sent to 1055 Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road, Suite 3, Sunnyvale, CA 94087. For housing discrimination questions, call the state Department of Fair Housing and Employment at (800) 233-3212 or the Southern California Housing Rights Center at (800) 477-5977.