Older-Age Restrictions Are Permitted

For the most part, age discrimination in real estate matters if prohibited. An exemption in the Fair Housing Act of 1968, however, allows for 55-and-older age restrictions for retirement communities. To qualify for the exemption at least 80% of the homes in the community must be occupied by someone who is 55-years-old or older and the restriction must be put in place at the time of creation of the community and can’t be imposed later.  Various age-restricted retirement communities that were in existence at the time the Fair Housing Act was passed lobbied for the exemption.  Given that many residents of retirement communities are on fixed incomes, avoiding the property taxes associated with building and funding schools continues to make the exemption an important factor in the proliferation of 55-and-older communities.