Q: Our family is looking for a new apartment. This morning, after I saw a good one advertised in the paper, I called and was told that the unit had been rented. About 15 minutes later, not realizing that I had called already, my daughter called and got an appointment to see it right away! I think there’s something going on here — I speak with a Latino accent, but my daughter has none. Am I being too suspicious? –Delia J.

A: Although it’s possible that the unit somehow unrented itself in those 15 minutes, it sounds more likely that you experienced what academics (and lawyers) have described as "linguistic profiling." Studies have shown that people are astonishingly capable of differentiating race and ethnicity just by the sound of a speaker’s voice — in one such study, 72 percent of the listeners correctly identified the speaker as black, even though he said only one word: "hello." Of course, being able to differentiate between a black and a non-black voice is one thing; proving that the person who heard the voice used this information as the basis for a discriminatory decision is quite another.

For this reason, most fair-housing groups, when presented with an instance of possible linguistic profiling, will send testers to the property. Had you contacted a fair-housing group, they might have sent a white woman to inquire about the apartment, closely followed by a Latino woman. If the landlord welcomed the white tester but discouraged or turned away the Latino prospect, that would be solid evidence on which to build a racial discrimination claim.

Q: My tenant is planning on being away for three months, and has informed me that she will have a housesitter for the house and to take care of the yard and dog. I told her that I’d need to meet, screen and approve this person, but my tenant says that’s ridiculous. She’s adamant that she has a right to have someone watch the place and doesn’t need my approval. Who’s right? –Paul M.

A: In this situation, it’s reasonable for you to insist on knowing who will be living in your property while your tenant is away. You tenant isn’t going to be gone a mere week or two, and the housesitter isn’t simply collecting the mail and watering the plants. A three-month, full-time resident is an occupant, not a mere visitor or guest. This person has plenty of opportunity to damage your property and cause problems, and although your tenant would legally be responsible (along with the sitter) for any damage, that will be cold comfort to you if you end up having to deal with repairs, unhappy neighbors and possibly an eviction.

Suppose your landlord will not let your daughter out of the lease, and she breaks it by leaving early (under no circumstances should she fail to pay the rent and end up with an eviction case filed against her, because having this in her rental background will make it difficult to secure rentals in the future). In most states, the landlord must take reasonably prompt steps to rerent, and once the unit is rerented, your daughter’s responsibility for the rent will end. If the rental is attractive, the landlord sets the rent at market rates and the market is not awash in rentals, you may end up responsible for only a month or two of rent. But if the unit is not attractive and the market is soft, it may well take the landlord more time to rent it. In that case, you could be on the hook for several months or more.

Janet Portman is an attorney and managing editor at Nolo. She specializes in landlord/tenant law and is co-author of "Every Landlord’s Legal Guide" and "Every Tenant’s Legal Guide." She can be reached at janet@inman.com.

***

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