[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Fort
Plain 6-16-1992 as L.L. No. 1-1992. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Village of Fort
Plain Fair Housing Law."
For the purpose of providing and ensuring fair housing opportunities
for all within the Village of Fort Plain, the Village Board of the Village
of Fort Plain in the County of Montgomery, State of New York, under the authority
of the General Municipal and Village Laws, hereby obtains, enacts and publishes
this chapter.
A.
For the purpose of this chapter, certain words or phrases
herein shall be interpreted as follows, except where the context clearly indicates
the contrary. Words used in the singular include the plural, words used in
the present tense include the future tense, and the word "shall" is always
mandatory.
B.
DISCRIMINATORY HOUSING PRACTICE
DWELLING
FAMILY
PERSON
TO RENT
For the purpose of this chapter, certain terms or words
herein shall be interpreted as follows:
Any building, structure or portions thereof which is occupied as
or designed or intended for occupancy as a residence by one or more families
and any vacant land which is offered for sale or lease for the construction
or location thereon of any such building, structure or portion thereof.
A single individual.
Includes one or more individuals, corporations, partnerships, associations,
labor organizations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock
companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy,
receivers and fiduciaries.
To lease, to sublease, to let and otherwise to grant for a consideration
the right to occupy premises not owned by the occupant.
Except as exempted by § 96-7, it shall be unlawful within the Village of Fort Plain:
A.
For a person, after offering property for sale or rent
or otherwise in any matter seeking a buyer or renter, to refuse to sell or
rent after the making of a bona fide offer or to refuse to negotiate for the
sale or rental of or otherwise make unavailable or deny a dwelling to any
person because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or
national origin.
B.
To discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions
or privileges or sale or rental of a dwelling or in the provision of services
or facilities in connection therewith because of race, color, religion, sex,
handicap, familial status or national origin.
C.
To make, print or publish or cause to be made, printed
or published any notice, statement or advertisement with respect to the sale
or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national
origin or any intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination.
D.
To represent to any person because of race, color, religion,
sex, handicap, familial status or national origin that any dwelling is not
available for inspection, sale or rental when such dwelling is in fact so
available.
E.
For profit, to induce or attempt to induce any person
to sell or rent any dwelling by representations regarding the entry or prospective
entry into the neighborhood of a person or persons of a particular race, color,
religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.
It shall be unlawful within the Village of Fort Plain for any bank, building and loan association, insurance company or other corporation, association, firm or enterprise whose business consists in whole or in part in the making of commercial real estate loans to deny a loan or other financial assistance to a person applying therefor for the purpose of purchasing, constructing, improving, repairing or maintaining a dwelling; or to discriminate against him in the fixing of the amount, interest rate, duration or other terms or conditions of such loan or other financial assistance because of the race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin of such person or of any person associated with him in connection with such loan or other financial assistance or the purposes of such loan or other financial assistance or of the present or prospective owners, lessees, tenants or occupants of the dwelling or dwellings in relation to which such loan or other financial assistance is to be made or given, provided that nothing contained in this section shall impair the scope or effectiveness of the exception contained in § 96-7.
It shall be unlawful within the Village of Fort Plain to deny any person
access to or membership or participation in any multiple-listing service,
real estate broker's organization or other service, organization or facility
relating to the business of selling or renting dwellings or to discriminate
against him in the terms or conditions of such access, membership or participation
on account of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national
origin.
A.
(1)
Any single-family house sold or rented by an owner, provided:
(a)
That such private individual owner does not own more
than three such single-family houses at any one time.
(b)
That in the case of the sale of any such single-family
house by a private individual owner not residing in such house at the time
of such sale or who was not the recent resident of such house prior to such
sale, the exception granted by this subsection shall apply only with respect
to one such sale within any twenty-four-month period.
(c)
That such bona fide private individual owner does not
own any interest in, nor is there owned or reserved on his behalf under any
express or voluntary agreement, title to any right to all or a portion of
the proceeds from the sale or rental of more than three such single-family
houses at one time.
(d)
That the sale or rental of any such single-family house
shall be excepted from the application of this chapter only if such house
is sold or rented:
[1]
Without the use in any manner of the sales or rental
facilities or the sales or rental services of any real estate broker, agent
or salesman or of such facilities or services of any person in the business
of selling or renting a dwelling or of any employee or agent of any such broker,
agent, salesman or person.
[2]
Without the publication, posting or mailing, after notice, of any advertisement or written notice in violation of § 96-4 of this chapter, but nothing in this proviso shall prohibit the use of attorneys, escrow agents, abstracters, title companies and other such professional assistance as may be necessary to perfect or transfer the title.
(2)
Rooms or units in dwellings containing living quarters
occupied or intended to be occupied by no more than four families living independently
of each other if the owner actually maintains and occupies one of such living
quarters as his residence. For the purpose of this exemption, a person shall
be deemed to be in the business of selling or renting dwellings if:
(a)
He has, within the preceding 12 months, participated
as principal in three or more transactions involving the sale or rental of
any dwelling or any interest therein;
(b)
He has, within the preceding 12 months, participated
as agent, other than in the sale of his own personal residence, in providing
sales or rental facilities or sales or rental services in two or more transactions
involving the sale or rental of any dwelling or any interest therein; or
(c)
He is the owner of any dwelling designed or intended
for occupancy by or occupied by five or more families.
B.
Sales/rentals by religious organizations. Nothing in
this chapter shall prohibit a religious organization, association or society
or any nonprofit institution or organization operated, supervised or controlled
by or in conjunction with a religious organization, association or society
from limiting the sale, rental or occupancy of dwellings which it owns or
operates for other than a commercial purpose to persons of the same religion
or from giving preference to such persons, unless membership in such religion
is restricted on account of race, color, sex, handicap, familial status or
national origin, nor shall anything in this chapter prohibit a private club
not in fact open to the public, which as an incident to its primary purpose
or purposes provides lodging which it owns or operates for other than a commercial
purpose, from limiting the rental of occupancy of such lodgings to its members
or from giving preference to its members.
The authority and responsibility for publicizing, administering and
enforcing this chapter shall be in the village's Fair Housing Officer
to be designated by the Mayor of the Village of Fort Plain.
Violations of this chapter shall be reported in person or in writing
to the village's Fair Housing Officer. Where sufficient cause exists
to believe that the terms of this chapter have been violated, the Fair Housing
Officer shall institute a suit in the Minden Town Court against the alleged
violator.
Where a person or organization has been found, upon default, consent
or after a trial on the merits, in violation of this chapter, a fine shall
be imposed on such person or organization not to exceed $250 or imprisonment
for not more than 15 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Each and
every separate violation of this chapter shall be deemed an offense for the
purposes of imposing the appropriate fine. Any party found in violation of
this chapter shall be liable for the costs and disbursements of the suit.
A.
The Village Board may, on its own initiative or on petition,
amend, supplement or repeal the provisions of this chapter in conformity with
applicable law after public notice and hearing.
B.
In their interpretation and application, the provisions
of this chapter shall be held to be minimum requirements adopted for the promotion
of the public health, morals, safety or the general welfare. Whenever the
requirements of this chapter are at variance with the requirements of any
other lawfully adopted rules, regulations or ordinances, the most restrictive
or that imposing the highest standards shall govern.
