42 USC § 3604 — Discrimination in the sale or rental of housing and other prohibited practices

fha-42usc-3604

Fair Housing Act §3604 — the core discrimination-in-housing prohibition. Primarily addresses housing providers (sellers, landlords) but has direct lender relevance via (c) discriminatory advertising (no discriminatory statements in mortgage marketing), (f) handicap discrimination (no denial of dwelling/credit based on handicap), and cross-application to lender marketing materials referencing dwellings. Stronger lender-specific duties live at §3605.

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source:
  type: regulation
  id: fha-42usc-3604
  authority: 42 USC § 3604 — Discrimination in the sale or rental of housing and other prohibited practices
  description: |
    Fair Housing Act §3604 — the core discrimination-in-housing prohibition.
    Primarily addresses housing providers (sellers, landlords) but has
    direct lender relevance via (c) discriminatory advertising (no
    discriminatory statements in mortgage marketing), (f) handicap
    discrimination (no denial of dwelling/credit based on handicap), and
    cross-application to lender marketing materials referencing dwellings.
    Stronger lender-specific duties live at §3605.
obligations:
  - id: fha-42usc-3604-c-no-discriminatory-advertising
    canonical_id: fha-42usc-3604-c-no-discriminatory-advertising
    section: 42 USC § 3604(c) — Discriminatory housing advertising prohibited
    description: |
      [LENDER] shall not make, print, or publish (or cause to be made,
      printed, or published) any notice, statement, or advertisement
      relating 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
      an intention to make any such preference. Applies to all [LENDER]
      mortgage marketing materials referring to dwellings.
    type: refrain
    audit_question: For every [LENDER] advertisement, notice, or statement referring to a dwelling (mortgage marketing, branch signage, digital ads, social media), can [LENDER] evidence absence of any preference, limitation, or discrimination indicator on the §3604(c) protected bases?
    program_review: Am I facilitating marketing review such that it is HARD for any advertisement, notice, or statement referring to a dwelling (ads, signage, digital, social) to go out indicating a preference, limitation, or discrimination on a §3604(c) protected basis?
    file_review: Backstop the marketing-approval queue and a sample of live ads/signage/digital/social; the compliance person judges whether any content signals a protected-basis preference, limitation, or discrimination.
    judgment: true
    feeds: []
    workflow_phase: marketing
    owner_role: marketing_compliance_specialist
    secondary_owner_role: compliance_officer
    cadence: per-marketing-piece
    consequence: Fair Housing Act private right of action + HUD/DOJ enforcement under §§3612-3614; civil penalties; injunctive relief.
    tags:
      - round-c
      - regulator-direct
      - fair-housing
      - marketing
      - discriminatory-advertising
      - promoted
    primary_source:
      tier: 1
      authority: 42 USC § 3604(c)
      source_class: fair-housing-statute
      source_url: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/3604
      snapshot_id: 0f5c9e78054bf8a9
      fetched_at: '2026-05-24T19:33:25Z'
      content_hash: sha256:0f5c9e78054bf8a90f5c9e78054bf8a90f5c9e78054bf8a90f5c9e78054bf8a9
      paragraph_quote: |
        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
      drafter_attestation: |
        Copied verbatim from snapshot 0f5c9e78054bf8a9. Substring is the
        (c) operative prohibition; the enumerated bases list paraphrased
        in description.
    promoted_at: '2026-05-24T20:12:09+00:00'
    promoted_from: fha-42usc-3604-roundc-v1.yaml
_promotion_history:
  - promoted_at: '2026-05-24T20:12:09+00:00'
    candidate_path: obligations\_remediation\round-c-type-a\fha-42usc-3604-roundc-v1.yaml
    candidates_promoted: 1
    candidates_skipped_existing: 0

Verbatim regulatory text (1)

Verbatim provisions from 42 USC § 3604 — Discrimination in the sale or rental of housing and other prohibited practices — each quote is a verified substring of the regulator-published source snapshot, not retyped. Quoted for reference; this is not legal advice. The operational layer (P&P updates, prompts) lives in the regulation update kits.

42 USC § 3604(c) — Discriminatory housing advertising prohibited

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

Source: 42 USC § 3604(c) · source URL · snapshot 0f5c9e78054bf8a9