Question 1
Under the Tennessee Human Rights Act, a single-family homeowner who sells through a licensed Tennessee real estate agent:
- A. Retains full THRA exemption status because single-family homes are categorically excluded from the THRA's coverage.
- B. Is subject to the THRA's anti-discrimination provisions and cannot instruct the agent to discriminate, because use of a licensee removes the owner-exemption that might otherwise apply. ✓ Answer
- C. May lawfully restrict buyers by religion or national origin as long as the restriction is disclosed in the listing agreement.
- D. Is exempt from the THRA if the home is the owner's primary residence, regardless of whether a licensee is used.
Explanation: Under the THRA, the limited owner exemption for single-family home sales applies only when the owner does not use a real estate broker or licensee and does not engage in discriminatory advertising. Once a licensed agent is retained, the THRA's full anti-discrimination protections apply, and neither the owner nor the licensee may discriminate on the basis of any protected class. The licensee who follows discriminatory instructions from a seller also violates TREC rules and the THRA.
Question 2
A Tennessee property manager operates a 50-unit apartment complex and tells a prospective tenant, 'We already have enough people like you here,' before rejecting the application. Under the Tennessee Human Rights Act, this statement is most significant because:
- A. It is not legally significant unless the property manager puts the rejection reason in writing.
- B. It can serve as direct evidence of discriminatory intent even if the property manager later claims a neutral business reason for the rejection. ✓ Answer
- C. It is only actionable if the applicant can also prove the complex has a statistically measurable racial imbalance among current tenants.
- D. It constitutes defamation rather than housing discrimination and must be pursued through a separate legal action.
Explanation: Under the THRA, oral statements reflecting discriminatory intent are legally significant and can constitute direct evidence of housing discrimination. A discriminatory statement made at or near the time of rejection can establish the discriminatory motive element of a complaint, and a housing provider cannot escape liability solely by later offering a pretextual neutral reason. The Tennessee Human Rights Commission and courts consider such statements as probative evidence of unlawful conduct.
Question 3
Under the Tennessee Human Rights Act, which of the following best describes the standard for determining whether a requested accommodation for a person with a disability is 'reasonable'?
- A. An accommodation is reasonable only if it costs nothing to the housing provider and requires no change to existing rules or policies.
- B. An accommodation is per se reasonable whenever a tenant provides a physician's written letter, regardless of the burden it places on the housing provider.
- C. An accommodation is reasonable if it does not impose an undue financial or administrative burden on the housing provider and does not fundamentally alter the nature of the housing program. ✓ Answer
- D. An accommodation is reasonable only if it is explicitly listed in TREC's published administrative rules as an approved modification.
Explanation: Under the THRA, consistent with federal fair housing standards incorporated by Tennessee law, a reasonable accommodation for a person with a disability must not impose an undue hardship—meaning an undue financial or administrative burden—on the housing provider, and it must not require a fundamental alteration of the provider's housing program. The interactive process between the tenant and provider determines reasonableness on a case-by-case basis.
Question 4
A Tennessee real estate licensee who suspects that a lender is conditioning mortgage loan approvals on the racial composition of the neighborhood in which the property is located should understand that this practice is:
- A. Permissible under Tennessee law as long as the lender applies the same neighborhood criteria to all applicants regardless of the applicant's own race.
- B. Prohibited only by federal law but not independently addressed by any Tennessee statute.
- C. Prohibited under the Tennessee Human Rights Act as a form of discriminatory financing, and the licensee has an obligation under TREC rules not to facilitate or participate in such conduct. ✓ Answer
- D. Permissible because lenders are exempt from the THRA's housing discrimination provisions, which apply only to sellers and landlords.
Explanation: The Tennessee Human Rights Act prohibits discriminatory terms, conditions, or privileges in real estate financing based on protected class characteristics, which includes location-based (neighborhood racial composition) lending decisions commonly called redlining. TREC rules further require licensees to avoid facilitating any conduct that violates the THRA, and a licensee who knowingly works with a discriminatory lender may face disciplinary action.
Question 5
Under the Tennessee Human Rights Act, a housing provider who wishes to deny occupancy to a prospective tenant based on a prior criminal conviction must be aware that:
- A. Any prior criminal conviction, regardless of when it occurred or its nature, is a lawful basis to deny housing under the THRA without further analysis.
- B. Blanket policies excluding all applicants with any criminal record may constitute unlawful discrimination if they have a disparate impact on a protected class and are not narrowly tailored to a legitimate safety concern. ✓ Answer
- C. The THRA explicitly lists prior criminal history as a protected class, making any denial based on criminal history automatically unlawful.
- D. Only federal law, not the THRA, governs how criminal history may be used in tenant screening decisions in Tennessee.
Explanation: While criminal history is not a separately named protected class under the THRA, blanket no-criminal-record policies can violate the THRA's disparate impact prohibition if they disproportionately screen out members of a protected class (e.g., race or national origin) and are not justified by a legitimate, individualized safety or business necessity analysis. Tennessee housing providers must avoid overbroad policies that effectively function as proxies for protected-class discrimination.
Question 6
Under Tennessee's URLTA, if a landlord in a covered county sells the rental property during an existing tenancy, what happens to the tenant's security deposit?
- A. The new owner takes the property subject to the obligation to return the deposit, and the selling landlord must transfer the deposit to the new owner or return it to the tenant ✓ Answer
- B. The deposit is automatically released to the tenant upon the sale of the property
- C. The original landlord retains the deposit because the obligation ends when ownership transfers
- D. The deposit is held in escrow by the closing attorney until the current lease expires
Explanation: Under Tennessee's URLTA, when a rental property is sold, the selling landlord must either transfer the security deposit to the new owner or return it to the tenant. The new owner assumes liability for the deposit upon receipt. The tenant's security deposit obligation follows the property and cannot be extinguished simply by a change of ownership, protecting the tenant's right to recover the deposit at lease end.