Fair Housing Listing Checker for Real Estate Ads

Fair Housing Listing Checker scans real estate listing descriptions, rental ads and MLS remarks in bulk for wording that may break the US Fair Housing Act advertising rule (42 U.S.C. 3604(c)): phrases such as "adults only", "perfect for families", "Christian home", "English speaking", "no wheelchairs" or "no section 8". Each finding has the exact quote, the protected class, a severity, a why with the HUD reference, and a neutral rewrite tip. Click Start with the prefilled example to check three listings in a few seconds.

Screening aid only. Not legal advice and not a compliance sign-off. The tool flags wording that public federal rules and HUD guidance treat as risky. A listing with no flags is not "approved": context, photos, state and local laws and your MLS rules still apply. Have flagged ads reviewed by your broker or a qualified professional.

What does the Fair Housing Listing Checker do?

• ✅ Flags explicit preferences or limitations based on the federal protected classes: race, color, religion, sex, disability (handicap), familial status and national origin. Examples: "no kids", "adults only", "couples only", "white neighborhood", "no Irish", "Christian home", "English speaking tenants preferred", "female tenants only", "no wheelchairs", "must be able to climb stairs", "no emotional support animals".
• ✅ Flags "ideal buyer" wording that MLS and association guidance commonly warns about: "perfect for families", "family-friendly", "empty nesters", "young professionals", "mature couple".
• ✅ Flags source-of-income limits ("no section 8", "we do not accept vouchers"). Not a federal protected class, but protected by statewide law in about 20 states plus DC and by many cities, so it is reported as medium with HUD's map linked.
• ✅ Recognises context: "adults only" next to 55+ / 62+ / active adult wording is downgraded with a note about the housing-for-older-persons conditions, and sex preferences in a roommate / shared living ad are downgraded with a note about the shared-living exception.
• ✅ Does not flag the examples HUD's 1995 guidance calls lawful: master bedroom, family room, walk-in closets, great view, fourth-floor walk-up, jogging trails, walk to bus stop, quiet streets, wheelchair ramp, chapel, kosher meals, non-smoking, sober, mother-in-law suite. It also ignores false friends like "single-family home", "white oak floors", "black stainless appliances", "mature trees" and "near St. Mary's Church".
• ✅ Optional style notes (minSeverity = low): "master bedroom", "man cave", "his and hers", "exclusive neighborhood", "safe neighborhood".
• ✅ Tells you whether the ad carries an Equal Housing Opportunity statement.
• ✅ Takes plain texts, listing objects, or a whole Apify dataset from a Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin or Craigslist scraper. Title, description and remarks fields are found automatically and HTML is stripped.

Output per listing: riskLevel (high / medium / low / none), issueCount, protectedClassesFlagged, issues (ruleId, protectedClass, severity, field, quote, context, why, suggestion, note, references), hasEqualHousingStatement, hiddenLowSeverityCount, checkedAt (UTC timestamp) and disclaimer.

Who is it for?

• Brokerages and team leads who want a first pass over every agent's listing copy before it goes to the MLS or social media.
• Property managers and rental platforms screening rental ads and Craigslist-style posts in bulk.
• Listing portals, MLS vendors and real estate marketing tools that need a fair housing wording screen inside their pipeline via API.
• Fair housing trainers, compliance staff and researchers auditing large sets of public ads.

How to check real estate listings for fair housing wording

1. Click Start with the prefilled example to see the output.
2. Paste your own descriptions into Listing descriptions to check, or add Listings with your own IDs (MLS number, URL).
3. Or pick an Apify dataset from a listing scraper. Leave Dataset fields empty to auto-detect title, description and remarks.
4. Keep Minimum severity at medium, or choose low to include MLS style notes. Turn on Only save listings with findings to keep just the rows to review.
5. Download as JSON, CSV or Excel and work through rows sorted by riskLevel.

Input example

{
  "texts": [
    "Charming 2BR condo, perfect for young professionals or empty nesters. Adults only, no section 8. Walk to shops and the light rail.",
    "Spacious 4 bed, 3 bath single-family home with a family room, primary suite, fenced yard and walk-in closets. Quiet street, great view. Equal Housing Opportunity.",
    "Room for rent in a Christian home. English speaking tenants preferred, no kids."
  ],
  "minSeverity": "medium",
  "onlyFlagged": false
}

Dataset example (output of a listing scraper run):

{
  "datasetId": "YOUR_DATASET_ID",
  "textFields": ["description"],
  "minSeverity": "medium",
  "onlyFlagged": true
}

Output example

Real output from the prefill run on 2026-10-28 (shortened: the first listing shows one full finding; the third shows the main fields):

[
  {
    "itemNo": 1,
    "ref": null,
    "textPreview": "Charming 2BR condo, perfect for young professionals or empty nesters. Adults only, no section 8. Walk to shops and the light rail.",
    "fieldsChecked": [
      "text"
    ],
    "riskLevel": "high",
    "issueCount": 4,
    "protectedClassesFlagged": [
      "familial status",
      "familial status / age",
      "source of income (state and local law)"
    ],
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "ideal-household",
        "protectedClass": "familial status",
        "severity": "medium",
        "quote": "perfect for young professionals",
        "context": "Charming 2BR condo, perfect for young professionals or empty nesters. Adults only, no section 8. Walk to shops…",
        "why": "Describes who the home is for in familial-status terms. HUD's guidance bars ads that state a preference for adults, couples or singles; MLS and association guidance commonly flags 'perfect for families' wording.",
        "suggestion": "Name the feature instead: fenced yard, four bedrooms, bonus room, single-level living, community pool.",
        "references": [
          {
            "title": "Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3604(c): ads may not indicate any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin",
            "url": "https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/3604"
          },
          {
            "title": "HUD memo 'Guidance Regarding Advertisements Under Section 804(c) of the Fair Housing Act' (R. Achtenberg, 9 Jan 1995)",
            "url": "http://www.cofha.com/realtors/files/Achtenberg%20Memo%20on%20Advertising.pdf"
          }
        ],
        "field": "text"
      },
      {
        "...": "3 more findings (age-household-terms: 'empty nesters' (medium), adults-only: 'Adults only' (high), source-of-income: 'no section 8' (medium))"
      }
    ],
    "hiddenLowSeverityCount": 0,
    "hasEqualHousingStatement": false,
    "highestSeverityIncludingHidden": "high",
    "minSeverityShown": "medium",
    "checkedAt": "2026-10-28T18:15:48+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated wording screen based on the federal Fair Housing A..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 2,
    "textPreview": "Spacious 4 bed, 3 bath single-family home with a family room, primary suite, fenced yard and walk-in closets. Quiet street, great view. Equal Housing Opportunity.",
    "riskLevel": "none",
    "issueCount": 0,
    "issues": [],
    "hasEqualHousingStatement": true
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 3,
    "textPreview": "Room for rent in a Christian home. English speaking tenants preferred, no kids.",
    "riskLevel": "high",
    "issueCount": 3,
    "protectedClassesFlagged": [
      "familial status",
      "national origin",
      "religion"
    ],
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "religious-preference",
        "protectedClass": "religion",
        "severity": "high",
        "quote": "Christian home",
        "suggestion": "Remove it. Landmarks (near St. Mary's Church) and facilities (chapel, kosher kitchen) are fine to describe."
      },
      {
        "ruleId": "language-citizenship",
        "protectedClass": "national origin",
        "severity": "high",
        "quote": "English speaking",
        "suggestion": "Remove it. Screen all applicants with the same lawful, documented criteria."
      },
      {
        "ruleId": "no-children",
        "protectedClass": "familial status",
        "severity": "high",
        "quote": "no kids",
        "suggestion": "Remove it and describe the property itself (layout, rooms, amenities). Occupancy limits must follow local codes, not a preference."
      }
    ]
  }
]

How much does it cost to check listings?

Pay per result: $0.005 per listing checked, plus a $0.00005 start fee per run and small Apify platform usage paid by you (the 3-listing prefill run used about $0.0001 of platform usage). 100 listings cost about $0.50 and 1,000 listings about $5.00, plus platform usage. Turn on Only save listings with findings to pay only for rows to review, and cap spend with the maximum cost per run setting.

Use it through the API, integrations or AI agents

• Run and get results in one call: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ultimatemc~fair-housing-listing-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items
• MCP for AI agents: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=ultimatemc/fair-housing-listing-checker
• Schedule it on new listings, add a webhook, or chain it after a Zillow, Realtor.com or Craigslist scraper and pass that run's dataset ID.

Rules and sources

Checked against these public texts on 2026-10-28:

• Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3604(c): no ad may indicate a preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.
• 24 CFR 100.75: discriminatory advertisements, statements and notices.
• HUD memo "Guidance Regarding Advertisements Under Section 804(c) of the Fair Housing Act" (Roberta Achtenberg, 9 January 1995): examples of violating and non-violating wording, used for both the rules and the false-positive exclusions.
• 24 CFR Part 100 Subpart E: housing for older persons (55+ / 62+).
• HUD: Source of Income protections for voucher holders (map of state and local laws).

How the checking works

Each text is matched against a fixed set of rules, one per kind of preference, with exclusions for the property and neighborhood descriptions HUD calls lawful. Severity is high for explicit preferences or limitations of the kind HUD's guidance names, medium for "ideal buyer" wording and source-of-income limits, and low for style notes. When matches overlap, only the most severe one is kept. Context rules lower the severity for 55+ / 62+ wording and shared-living ads and add a note. No AI and no external calls, so the same input always gives the same output.

FAQ

Does "none" mean my listing is compliant?

No. It means none of the rule patterns matched. Photos, context, the way you answer inquiries, and state or local laws (age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, source of income, military status and more) are not fully checked.

Is "master bedroom" a fair housing violation?

HUD's 1995 guidance says it is not. Many MLSs still prefer "primary bedroom", so it shows up only as a low-severity style note when you choose minSeverity = low.

Can I advertise a 55+ community?

Yes, if the property meets the housing-for-older-persons conditions. The tool downgrades "adults only" wording when 55+ / 62+ / active adult context is present and adds a note.

Does it check my state's extra protected classes?

Partly. Source of income and sexual orientation / gender identity wording is flagged, with a note that protection depends on state and local law. The tool does not decide which laws apply to a given property.

Is it AI?

No. Deterministic rules, so results are repeatable and auditable.

Limitations

• English only; US federal rules plus a few common state and local themes. Not built for UK, EU or Canadian rules.
• Word-based: it cannot see photos, models in images, or targeting choices in ad platforms.
• Unusual phrasing, slang or misspellings can be missed, and rare legitimate uses can be flagged. Review every flag in context.
• The HUD 1995 memo is guidance, not a regulation; courts and local agencies may take different views.

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Found a false positive or a missed phrase? Open an issue on the Issues tab with the listing text, and we'll review the rule.