Apartment or house hunting can fun and exciting but challenging as well. It helps to know your rights as a tenant and what you can expect from your landlord.

Housing Rights of Disabled Tenants

The federal Fair Housing Act and Fair Housing Amendments Act prohibit discrimination against people who:

• have a physical or mental disability that substantially limits one or more major life activities -- including, but not limited to, hearing, mobility and visual impairments; chronic alcoholism (but only if it is being addressed through a recovery program); mental illness; HIV, AIDS and AIDS-Related Complex and mental retardation
• have a history or record of such a disability, or
• are regarded by others as though they have such a disability.

Discriminatory Questions and Actions

Landlords are not allowed to ask you whether or not you have a disability or illness,or ask to see medical records. Even if it is obvious that you are disabled -- for example, you use a wheelchair or wear a hearing aid -- it is nevertheless illegal to inquire how severely you are disabled. In short, your landlord's actions and questions cannot be designed to treat you differently than other tenants.

The policy behind this rule is simple: No matter how well-intentioned, the landlord cannot make decisions about where and how you will live on the property that he would not make were you not disabled. For example, if there are two units for rent -- one on the ground floor and one three stories up -- the landlord must show both units to an applicant who uses a wheelchair, however reasonable he thinks it would be for the person to consider only the ground floor unit.

The Rights of Disabled Tenants to Live in an Accessible Place:

Accommodations

Landlords must accommodate the needs of disabled tenants, at the landlord's own expense. As a disabled tenant, you may expect your landlord to reasonably adjust rules, procedures or services in order to give you an equal opportunity to use and enjoy your dwelling unit or a common space. Accommodations can include such things as parking: If the landlord provides parking in the first place, providing a close-in, spacious parking space would be an accommodation for a tenant who uses a wheelchair.

Does your landlord's duty to accommodate disabled tenants mean that you can expect every rule and procedure to be changed at your request? No. Although landlords are expected to accommodate "reasonable" requests, they need not undertake changes that would seriously impair their ability to run their business. For example, if an applicant who uses crutches prefers the third-story apartment in a walkup building constructed in 1926 to the one on the ground floor, the landlord does not have to rip the building apart to install an elevator. HUD would consider the expense to be unreasonable.

The Rights of Disabled Tenants to Live in an Accessible Place:

Modifications

Landlords must allow disabled tenants to make reasonable modifications to their living unit or common areas at their expense, if needed for the person to comfortably and safely live in the unit. Disabled tenants have the right to modify their living space to the extent necessary to make the space safe and comfortable, as long as the modifications will not make the unit unacceptable to the next tenant, or if you agree to undo the modification when you leave.

Examples of modifications undertaken by a disabled tenant include:

• lowering countertops for a wheelchair-using tenant
• installing special faucets or door handles for persons with limited hand use
• modifying kitchen appliances to accommodate a blind tenant, and
• installing countertops allow wheelchair access to a raised living room.

These modifications must be reasonable and made with prior approval. A landlord is entitled to ask for a description of the proposed modifications, proof that they will be done in a workmanlike manner and evidence that you are obtaining any necessary building permits. In addition, if you propose to modify the unit in a way that will require restoration when you leave (such as the repositioning of lowered kitchen counters), the landlord may require you to pay into an interest-bearing escrow account the amount estimated for the restoration. (The interest belongs to you.)

Proof of Tenant Need for Accommodation or Modification

Landlords are also entitled to ask for proof that the accommodation or modification you have requested will address your needs. For some disabilities -- for example, installing a ramp to accommodate a wheelchair -- the solutions are obvious. But other disabilities, especially mental ones, are not obvious, and their accommodation isn't either -- for example, removing doors to accommodate a person who is fearful of closed spaces. Without some proof, your landlord has no way of knowing whether your request is legitimate or a ruse to obtain special treatment.

If you want a specific accommodation or modification and your disability is not obvious (or if you anticipate an argument with your landlord regarding the necessity of what you have proposed), have your proof ready before you make your request. Ask your physician or therapist for a letter attesting that what you are asking for will meet your needs. To protect your privacy, carefully explain to the physician or other writer that he need not explain the disability; he need only certify that the changes you would like are appropriate to your situation.