If Your Housing Rights are Violated
If you believe your housing rights have been violated, you can call the Disability Law Center, file a complaint with the Utah Anti-Discrimination and Labor Division (UALD), file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), or file a complaint in state or federal court.
The Utah Anti-Discrimination and Labor Division (UALD)
The UALD has the authority to enforce the laws that protect people from discriminatory actions taken by their housing providers. The UALD receives, mediates, investigates, and resolves complaints of housing discrimination based on race, disability, national origin, familial status, color, sex, and religion. Sexual orientation, gender identity and source of income are also protected classes under Utah law. Generally, you cannot file a complaint based on source of income with HUD. As of February 11, 2021, however, HUD has begun accepting complaints based on sexual orientation and gender identity under the protected class of sex.
To file a complaint with UALD:
You must contact UALD or visit their website to obtain their intake paperwork.
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 146630,
Salt Lake City, UT 84114.
Street Address:
160 East 300 South,
3rd Floor,
Salt Lake City, UT 84111.
Website
Phone: (801) 530-6800, Utah Relay: 711.
Almost all housing providers will be covered by housing discrimination laws. You must file your complaint for housing discrimination within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act with UALD. If more than 180 days have passed since the alleged discriminatory act, but less than one year has passed, your UALD complaint will be sent to HUD for investigation (or you can file directly with HUD). If the alleged discriminatory act occurred between one and two years ago, you can only file your complaint in state or federal court. You cannot bring a housing discrimination complaint against a housing provider if it has been two years since the last alleged discriminatory act. If you file a UALD complaint, preparing the following information for UALD is helpful, but not required to initiate your complaint:
- A written statement of what happened, in chronological order;
- Written records of any interactions that happened between you and your housing provider (such as a written request for reasonable accommodation(s) and housing provider response, discriminatory statements or notices, records of any adverse decisions the housing provider made against you, etc.);
- Copies of all relevant documents, and
- Contact information for all witnesses and whatever information they can provide.
Note: Your complaint is officially filed once UALD receives a signed and notarized complaint. If your housing issue is time sensitive and the last date of discrimination was less than 180 days ago, consider filing your complaint with UALD. UALD will schedule a mediation for the parties to attend within two weeks of the filing date.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal for housing providers to discriminate in the sale or rental of a dwelling on the basis of race, national origin, familial status, color, sex, religion, or disability. It is also illegal to discriminate against a person because the person complained about discrimination or requested a reasonable accommodation for a disability.
- A written statement of what happened, in chronological order;
- Written records of any interactions that happened between you and your housing provider (such as a written request for reasonable accommodation(s) and housing provider response, discriminatory statements or notices, records of any adverse decisions the housing provider made against you, etc.);
- Copies of all relevant documents, and
- Contact information for all witnesses and whatever information they can provide.
Note: A complaint is considered filed once HUD receives a signed complaint. HUD will assign an investigator to investigate the allegations in the complaint.