Fair housing

Our commitment

ListedBy follows the federal Fair Housing Act and the Texas Fair Housing Act. Every buyer gets the same site: the same search, the same listings, and the same way to ask an owner a question.

Search filters are about homes and places: price, rooms, size, flood zone, financing and the like. None of them is about the people who live nearby.

Describe the home, not the buyer.

Who the law protects

Federal law (42 U.S.C. §3604) and Texas law (Property Code chapter 301) make it illegal to refuse to sell a home, to set different terms, or to publish an ad that states a preference, limitation or discrimination because of:

• race
• color
• religion
• sex
• disability
• familial status (having children under 18 at home, being pregnant, or getting custody of a child)
• national origin

Some Texas cities protect more groups. Follow your city’s rules too. For counsel — confirm: Whether to name the Texas cities with broader protections.

How the listing check works

As an owner writes the headline and description, we check the words against a list of phrases that fair-housing law forbids or warns about.

Must change

Words that state a preference or limitation about a protected group, such as “adults only”. The owner can save a draft with them but can’t submit or pay until they’re gone. Our server checks again at payment.

Check this

Words that are often misused, or lawful only in context, such as “55+”, “exclusive” or “near the church”. We explain why and suggest better words. The owner decides.

The check runs again when a listing is submitted, and a person on our team reviews every listing before it goes live.

The check reads English words only. It doesn’t look at photos, and it can’t judge what a whole sentence means. It helps; it isn’t legal advice, and passing it doesn’t make a listing lawful.

In messages

• When an owner’s reply states a preference about who should buy, or describes the neighbors by race, religion or national origin, a person reads it before it’s delivered.
• Other risky wording from an owner is delivered, and the owner gets a private reminder.
• When a buyer asks who lives nearby, the question is delivered, and the owner gets a reminder to answer about the home and the place, not the people.

Report discrimination

• A message: open it in your inbox, choose Report, then “It’s discriminatory”.
• A listing: report it at listedby.ai/report and choose “It’s discriminatory”.
• The government: the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development takes fair-housing complaints at 1-800-669-9777 and online at hud.gov, and so does the Civil Rights Division of the Texas Workforce Commission at twc.texas.gov. For counsel — confirm: Confirm these agencies' current phone numbers and web addresses.