California’s Rumford Act: Protections, Complaints, and Remedies

California’s Rumford Act, passed in 1963 as the Rumford Fair Housing Act, is the foundation of the state’s modern housing discrimination law. Its protections now live inside the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), which bars discrimination in rentals, sales, and lending across more than fifteen protected characteristics and is enforced by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD).¹ People still call it the Rumford Act out of habit, but if you’re a tenant, buyer, or housing provider in California today, FEHA is the statute that actually governs what you can and cannot do.

From Rumford to FEHA

Assemblyman William Byron Rumford wrote the original 1963 law to make it unlawful to discriminate in the rental, sale, financing, or leasing of housing because of race, color, religion, national origin, or ancestry. It covered roughly 70 percent of private housing in California at the time and was enforced by the Fair Employment Practice Commission.

The Legislature later folded the Rumford Act’s housing provisions into FEHA and expanded them well beyond the original five categories. The core housing rules now sit in Government Code sections 12955 through 12956.2, and the practical scope is far wider than it was six decades ago.

Who and What Is Protected

FEHA makes it unlawful for a housing provider to discriminate against or harass someone because of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, disability, veteran or military status, or genetic information.² That list runs longer than the federal Fair Housing Act, which does not reach source of income, sexual orientation, gender identity, or genetic information.

The law applies broadly. “Owner” under FEHA includes lessees, sublessees, managing agents, real estate brokers, and anyone with a legal right to rent or lease housing, including the state and its political subdivisions.³ So landlords, property management companies, homeowners’ associations, housing authorities, lenders, and real estate agents are all on the hook.

What Housing Providers Cannot Do

The obvious violations are refusing to sell or rent, refusing to negotiate, and falsely claiming a unit is unavailable. FEHA goes further, though. It also reaches offering inferior lease terms, providing unequal access to amenities, canceling or terminating a rental agreement for a prohibited reason, and providing segregated housing.³

Discriminatory advertising is a separate violation. No one may publish any notice, statement, or advertisement that signals a preference or limitation based on a protected characteristic.² That covers online listings, social media posts, and verbal statements to prospective tenants. Even housing providers who qualify for an exemption from the discrimination rules are still barred from running discriminatory ads.

Lending is covered too. Banks, mortgage companies, and other financial institutions cannot discriminate in the terms, conditions, or privileges of financial assistance used for purchasing, refinancing, or constructing housing.² Appraisers face a parallel rule and cannot let protected characteristics shape their valuations.

Section 8 and Other Housing Subsidies

Since January 1, 2020, source of income has been a protected category. Landlords cannot refuse to rent to someone because part of the rent will be paid by a housing subsidy. This explicitly includes Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, HUD-VASH vouchers, homelessness prevention programs, and locally funded subsidy programs.⁴

A landlord may still ask about an applicant’s level and source of income, but cannot reject someone or impose different requirements because housing assistance is part of that income. Ads that say “No Section 8” or “No Public Assistance” are unlawful. Landlords also cannot refuse to complete the paperwork a tenant needs to begin using their voucher, or evict a tenant because the landlord no longer wants to participate in a subsidy program.⁴ The only carveout is for a homeowner who lives in their own single-family unit and rents out just one room within it.

Disability Accommodations

FEHA requires housing providers to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, and services when necessary to give a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy their home. A landlord who enforces a no-pets policy, for example, must still allow a tenant with a disability to keep an assistance animal if the animal helps manage the disability.⁵

A request does not have to be in writing, and someone else can make it on the tenant’s behalf. A housing provider cannot charge a fee or require an extra deposit as a condition of granting an accommodation.⁵ If a provider cannot immediately grant a request, they must engage in an interactive process with the tenant to try to find a workable solution before denying it.⁶

Tenants with disabilities also have the right to make reasonable physical modifications to their unit at their own expense, like installing grab bars or widening doorways. For rentals, the landlord may condition approval on the tenant agreeing to restore the interior to its prior condition when they move out, minus normal wear and tear.³

Emotional Support Animals

A landlord with a no-pets policy must allow a tenant with a disability to keep an emotional support animal that helps manage their condition. If the disability or the need for the animal is not obvious, the landlord may request documentation, but the bar is not high: the tenant’s own credible statement or proof of disability benefits can suffice, as can a letter from a therapist, social worker, or even a family member who is in a position to know about the disability.⁷

There is no legal requirement that an animal be “registered” or “certified” as an ESA. Vests, tags, ID cards, and certificates purchased online do not, by themselves, establish either a disability or the need for an accommodation. If documentation comes from an online service, it must be based on an individualized assessment conducted by a licensed health care professional who has evaluated the person’s specific disability, the species of animal, and how the accommodation relates to the disability.⁷

When the Law Does Not Apply

California’s owner-occupied exemption is much narrower than most people assume. Federal law exempts owner-occupied buildings with up to four units from most Fair Housing Act requirements, the so-called “Mrs. Murphy” exemption. Under FEHA, the exemption applies only when a homeowner rents a room in their own single-family house to one roomer or boarder living within the household. Even then, the ban on discriminatory advertising still applies.³ A landlord who owns a duplex, triplex, or fourplex and lives in one unit gets no exemption under California law. Small landlords are often caught off guard by this.

Housing for older persons is treated differently. Communities may restrict residency based on age if they meet the requirements of the federal Housing for Older Persons Act. For a 55-and-older community, at least 80 percent of occupied units must have at least one resident aged 55 or older, and the community must publish policies stating its intent to operate as senior housing.⁸ A 62-and-older community has a simpler standard: every occupant must meet the age threshold. FEHA specifically notes that age-based selection preferences in federally approved housing programs do not count as age discrimination.²

One narrow advertising carveout: when two people share living areas within a single unit, ads may indicate the housing is available only to persons of one sex. That exception is limited to shared-space situations and does not extend to separate units in the same building.³

Filing a Complaint

If a housing provider has discriminated against you, you have two paths: file an administrative complaint with the California Civil Rights Department or go directly to court. Unlike employment discrimination claims, housing claims do not require you to exhaust the administrative process before suing.⁶

The deadlines differ. To file with CRD, you must submit an intake form within one year of the date the discrimination occurred.⁹ To file directly in court, the deadline is two years. If you file with CRD first, the time CRD spends processing your case does not count against your two-year court deadline.⁶ Miss these deadlines and you typically lose the right to pursue the claim.

If your complaint also involves facts that would violate the federal Fair Housing Act, it is automatically filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as well, though CRD usually handles the investigation.⁶

What You Can Recover

FEHA remedies are substantial, and they are available whether the case moves through the administrative process or straight to court.⁶ A successful claimant can recover out-of-pocket losses such as the cost of finding alternative housing, emotional distress damages, injunctive relief ordering the provider to stop the practice, access to the denied housing if it is still available, and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.

Civil penalties add a punitive layer on top. In administrative proceedings, penalties can reach $10,000 for a first violation, $25,000 if the respondent has been found to have intentionally violated the law within the previous five years, and $50,000 for two or more intentional violations within seven years.¹⁰ In court, the ceilings are higher: up to $50,000 for a first violation and up to $100,000 for any subsequent violation, with punitive damages available on top.¹¹

Retaliation Is Separately Illegal

FEHA makes it unlawful to coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with someone who has exercised or helped someone else exercise their fair housing rights.¹² The statute also prohibits evicting or otherwise retaliating against a person whose primary motivation for opposing the provider was reporting unlawful practices or contacting law enforcement.² A landlord cannot raise your rent, cut your services, start an eviction, or refuse to renew your lease because you filed a complaint or cooperated with an investigation. If any of that happens, it is a separate violation with its own remedies and penalties.

1
California Civil Rights Department. Department Name Change
2
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12955
3
California Legislative Information. California Government Code GOV 12927
4
California Civil Rights Department. Source of Income General Overview
5
California Department of Justice. Disability Rights in Housing
6
California Civil Rights Department. Housing Discrimination
7
California Civil Rights Department. Emotional Support Animals and Fair Housing Law
8
eCFR. 24 CFR Part 100 Subpart E – Housing for Older Persons
9
California Civil Rights Department. Complaint Process
10
Justia Law. California Government Code Article 2 – Housing Discrimination
11
California Legislative Information. California Government Code GOV 12989.3
12
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12955.7