Village of Hempstead Anti-Discrimination Fair Housing Co-Op Law in Effect

August 16, 2012 - West Babylon, NY - The Long Island Board of REALTORS® (LIBOR) and Village of Hempstead Mayor Wayne T. Hall are proud to announce that the Village of Hempstead has signed landmark anti-discrimination fair housing legislation for Co-op housing into law.

The new law, Code Section 54, Local Law # 6 of 2012, which is the first of its kind in Nassau County, mandates that a Co-op board must accept or reject a potential tenant within 45 days or less; and if they are denied – the Co-op board must provide a written reason as to why the applicant was rejected. Additionally, the Co-op board must provide the applicant with written acknowledgement within 10 days of receiving the application that they have received it.

The legislation, which went into effect on June 18, 2012, was based upon the Suffolk County bill, which required the same actions from a Co-op board, which was signed into law in 2009.

Mayor Wayne J. Hall, Sr. stated, “As one of Long Island’s most diverse communities, the Village of Hempstead is proud to be the first to sign this landmark legislation into law. We want to send a strong message that discriminatory housing practices will not be tolerated in our Village.”

“LIBOR President Donald C. Scanlon stated, “Co-op discrimination is one of the biggest challenges facing owners and REALTORS® when selling Co-ops, as Co-op boards have virtually unlimited power to do as they please. Co-op discrimination is known to be very blatant and out in the open. In this day and age, that behavior cannot be tolerated.”

Scanlon continued, “The REALTOR® community is proud to associate ourselves with this long overdue legislation that will help prevent discrimination which can occur because of many factors. The protected classes are: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, familial status, creed, ancestry, marital status, presence of children, pregnancy and gender identity.”

REALTORS® are optimistic that the passage of this bill in the Village of Hempstead will create momentum for this bill to possibly become law countywide.