How often do you have the opportunity to #SaveonRENT, especially RENT: The Broadway Tour? Now you do, thanks to a special partnership between RENT and ForRent.com®. This exclusive discount allows you to see Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, in the roles they made famous, for $10 less than everyone else! Share with your friends (Retweet) and be a part of the group that gets “A Tweet Deal.”
Attention: RENT Enthusiasts Tweet for a chance to win RENT: The Broadway Tour memorabilia and remember you get $10 off on tickets when you enter the code ANGEL.
Step 1:
Follow us on Twitter @AptsForRent and @rentthebwaytour
Step 2:
Copy and paste the entire text below into one of your tweets:
@AptsForRent has the code 2 save $10 on @rentthebwaytour tix! RT msg 4 chance 2 win prize pack: http://tinyurl.com/yftof3h#SaveonRENT
Step 3:
A randomly selected winner will be chosen from all tweeted entries on October 30th, 2009; November 30th, 2009; December 30th, 2009 and January 13th, 2010.
Rules to play: What? A Tweet-to-Win sweepstakes. Who? You can enter if you are a consumer. Please no multi-family housing industry professionals or employees of For Rent Media Solutions, Dominion Enterprises and/or RENT: The Broadway Tour. Why? To win RENT: The Broadway Tour memorabilia & ForRent.com schwag and get $10 off ticket prices. Where? Go to Twitter @AptsForRent and @rentthebwaytour to begin following. How? Copy and paste the entire text below into one of your tweets:
@AptsForRent has the code 2 save $10 on @rentthebwaytour tix! RT msg 4 chance 2 win prize pack: http://tinyurl.com/yftof3h#SaveonRENT
When? A randomly selected winner will be chosen from all tweeted entries on October 30th, 2009; November 30th, 2009; December 30th, 2009 and January 13th, 2010.
Did you attend the Florida Apartment Association (FAA) tradeshow this year? It was held from August 26th -28th at the Caribe Royale Orlando All-Suites Hotel in Orlando, Florida. This year was a huge success as the Florida Apartment Association (FAA) conference opened its doors to more than 450 multi-housing professionals. The conference encouraged attendees to “Catch the Next Wave” of industry innovations. Multi-housing professionals learned more about technology, customer service, green initiatives, marketing, and training. Check out this 2009 Florida Apartment Association Conference and Trade Show highlight video which captures moments from the successful education conference and trade show!
And of course, you know your friendly For Rent Media Solutions staff was there representing! Corporate and Florida employees were decked out in bright colored t-shirts with icon graphics to include ways we reach consumers: text, mobile, social media, video and much more!
Listen to a testimonial from one of our clients Lori Donnelly, VP CFH Group with For Rent Media Solutions to Dori Rones, South Florida GSM of For Rent Media Solutions.
On Wednesday, August 19th, For Rent Media Solutions launched a Twitter sweepstakes for multifamily industry professionals. Multifamily professionals had an opportunity to win an iPod Touch® if they logged on to Twitter and sent @AptsForRent a tweet. To be eligible for the sweepstake, multifamily professionals had to enter a tweet that included the ‘Yeah We’ve Got That’ hashtag. This hashtag symbolizes our solutions network to help clients reach renters any time, any place, driving more LEADS for them.
On Monday, August 24th, we announced Jessica Whitney as the randomly selected winner for the iPod Touch. Whitney works with Resort at Forbes Creek apartment community. This community has had their Twitter account for a little over a month and loves using the microbloging site for ‘real time’ updates to inform residents of specials, events, etc. In addition to Twitter, we also learned that this community has a robust Facebook page set up displaying updates regarding events in the apartment community.
As a result of this campaign, For Rent Media Solutions saw an increase of followers to our Twitter profile and numerous retweets with our brand message all in less than three days! We also generated a couple thousand page views to our Apartment Blog and had many interactions with multifamily industry professionals.
We want to congratulate Jessica Whitney for winning the iPod touch. We would also like to thank all multifamily professionals who participated. We’re looking forward to running another sweepstakes soon!
From August 26-28, the Caribe Royale Orlando All-Suites Hotel will open its doors to more than 450 multi-housing professionals for this year’s Florida Apartment Association (FAA) conference. The conference encourages attendees to “Catch the Next Wave” of industry innovations. On Friday, August 28, attendees will also have the opportunity to listen to some of the most experienced social media professionals in the industry during an hour long social media session that starts at 8 a.m. This is a great opportunity to extend your social media knowledge! FAA’s social media panel will answer questions on social media and discuss strategies that may benefit your community, including successful tips on the basics of social media, with an emphasis on video marketing, Twitter and Facebook. Whether you are a supplier or management professional, everyone is sure to benefit from these best practices and general discussion.
Panelists include:
Erica Campbell, Marketing Manager, For Rent Media Solutions™
Melanie Stiles, National Training & Marketing Director, Milestone Management, L.P.
Judy Bellack, VP Operations, Apartment Finder
The session moderator is Kellie Jackson, Milestone Management, L.P.
Pick up any magazine within the multi-family housing industry or attend an educational conference, and it is likely you will find something about fair housing. This issue is important to our industry for many reasons, including the dollar impact of not being in compliance with the fair housing laws. If you are charged with discrimination, the defense costs are high, not to mention perhaps having to pay to either settle the case or satisfy a judgment. You have protected your business and yourself from the ramifications of a fire, a slip-and-fall, or the myriad of other events that create liability for you as a landlord. But what about fair housing insurance coverage? Do you have it? Do you not have it? Do you know? Do you really need it? Do you care (probably, since you are reading this article)? Is there really any such thing?
Yes, there is coverage available. But it is up to you to find it, evaluate it, and make good business decisions regarding your needs. This article won’t give you all the answers, and will most likely raise more questions for you, but it is a good starting point for you to dialogue with your insurance agent or carrier. So, here goes…
The first step is to see if you have coverage:
Keep in mind that your General Liability and Directors & Officers policies will likely not provide you with fair housing protection. Personal Liability policies may (or may not!) provide coverage, but Professional Liability will often do so.
Check the AM Best’s rating (FSR - Financial Strength Rating) for your carrier’s ability to meet its obligations to you as a policyholder.
Discuss whether the carrier is “admitted” or “non-admitted/unauthorized” in the state or states in which you have properties and do business.
Next, open up a discussion with your agent/carrier about “Discrimination Coverage” or “Tenant Discrimination Liability Insurance.” The term “fair housing insurance” is not generally used in the insurance industry.
Now, let’s say that your agent/carrier assures you that you have the coverage or that you will be able to buy it. You’re all set now, right? No, not at all. As a smart business person you need to know what it is that you have bought or will buy. And what you think you “see” is not necessarily what you might actually “get.” You need to know:
Are you covered for intentional acts of discrimination?
Are you covered for punitive damages? There have been fair housing cases with punitive damages in excess of a million dollars, and one non-landlord fair housing case with punitive damages awarded at one hundred million dollars (that’s $100,000,000 and not a typo!).
Are you covered for civil penalties, emotional distress, compensatory damages, legal fees and settlements?
There are so many people for whose acts you are responsible. Are you covered for the issues created not just by your regular employees, but also part-time, temporary, and leased employees, as well as volunteers? What about issues created by residents, or your contractors and vendors?
Are you only covered during the leasing/application process? What about coverage as relates to residents during their tenancy with you? (In fact, most complaints are filed by current residents for harassment, evictions, different terms and conditions of their leases, and denial of requests for disability accommodation.)
Are you covered for groundless or false claims? Defending these can cost thousands of dollars!
Are you only covered for actual lawsuits? What about formal complaints made to HUD? What about an informal claim made to you? Keep in mind that you likely have a responsibility to notify your carrier even when someone just mentions a fair housing issue to you. What is the time frame for notification? And what can it cost you for failure or delay in notification…you may invalidate the coverage entirely!
Are you covered for prior acts, those which may have occurred before your policy went into effect?
Can you choose your own attorney? The answer is “not always” and this can be to your detriment. Attorneys who are familiar with fair housing complaints, the various enforcing agencies and investigators, can often get a situation handled quickly and resolve it efficiently because of their expertise. A carrier’s attorney may not be able to do that and can run up hours of legal fees while trying to learn about this specialized area of the law.
Will the carrier pay up front, as you accrue expenses, before the case concludes? Keep in mind that fair housing cases (and their costs) can, and do, go on for years and years. Your carrier may give you a “Reservation of Rights Letter” - they’ll pay you now, but if the event turns out to be non-insurable at its conclusion (perhaps for intentional discrimination), then you will be required to give the money back and pay your own judgment to boot!
Who controls a possible settlement; you or the carrier? Most cases are settled, and few actually make it into an administrative or federal district courtroom.
Is there a “hammer clause” regarding settlement? If you refuse to agree to a settlement offer and insist on going to court, but then lose more than you could have settled for, guess who pays the difference? (Hint- if there is a hammer clause, it won’t be your carrier who pays.)
Will a settlement affect your tax credit properties? If you are found to have discriminated, you bet. If you settle and thus “admit” liability or lose in a lawsuit, you stand a good chance of losing your tax credit status.
A fire can occur at your community, someone can slip and fall. There could be wind damage, hail damage, a tragic drowning in your pool. You have likely protected yourself from these possibilities with insurance. But be sure that you have done what you can to also protect yourself from the wrongful denial of a reasonable modification or accommodation request; sexual harassment or harassment based on protected class status; eviction or differential treatment because of protected class status; saying the wrong thing; treating applicants differently; linguistically profiling on the telephone; having community rules that unreasonably target children; automatically evicting the mentally disabled; not allowing assistance animals in pet-free properties; failing to have accessible housing where required or failing to allow modifications for the disabled. These are the most common bases for fair housing complaints.
Make smart business decisions. You may be disinclined to pay the premiums for tenant discrimination insurance yet just a few hours work on a fair housing issue may result in legal fees that are as high as the premium for coverage would have been. Know what you are buying. Hopefully the ideas shared above will help you evaluate that. And consider this closing message from this trio of authors…complying with fair housing law is the right thing to do and avoiding fair housing complaints in the first place is the best insurance of all.
REQUIRED LANGUAGE FOR ALL REPRINTING OF THIS ARTICLE: “Fair Housing Focus” is written by Nadeen Green, Senior Counsel with For Rent Media SolutionsTM, Anne Sadovsky, CSP, CAM, CAPS, RAM and DJ Ryan, Fair Housing Specialist, Kimball, Tirey & St. John, LLP. The information contained in this article is not to be considered legal advice, and the authors and their companies strongly suggest that you consult with your own counsel as to any fair housing questions or problems you may have.
