Federal & Florida real estate law

Fair housing is one of those topics the exam loves, because it's easy to write clean, unambiguous questions about it. Learn the lists cold and you'll bank points.

The federal Fair Housing Act and its protected classes

The federal Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to discriminate in housing based on membership in a protected class. There are seven federal protected classes, and you want them memorized in order:

• Race
• Color
• Religion
• National origin
• Sex
• Familial status
• Disability (sometimes called handicap)

A pile of exam questions hinges on what's NOT on that list. The big one: marital status is not a federal protected class. Neither is age, occupation, or source of income at the federal level. If a question asks which of four choices is not federally protected, marital status is the classic right answer.

Two of these classes trip people up, so let's be precise. Familial status protects households with children under 18, pregnant people, and anyone in the process of securing custody of a minor. Disability covers physical and mental impairments, and it's why reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications come up in this area.

Here's how I keep them straight in my head: think of the order as a rough timeline of how civil-rights protections expanded. The first batch (race, color, religion, national origin) came earlier; sex, familial status, and disability were added later. You don't need the history for the exam, but the grouping helps you recall all seven.

What practices are prohibited?

Three named discriminatory practices show up constantly. Learn the definitions, because the exam tests whether you can match the term to the behavior.

Steering is directing a buyer toward or away from particular neighborhoods based on a protected class. Even "helpful" steering ("you'd be more comfortable over here") is illegal. Your job is to show what the client asks to see and let them decide.

Blockbusting is scaring owners into selling, usually cheap, by suggesting that people of a certain protected class are moving into the area and values will drop. It's sometimes called panic selling. The tell is using fear about who the neighbors will be to drum up listings.

Redlining is refusing to lend, insure, or extend services in certain areas, often drawn on a literal map, based on the makeup of the neighborhood rather than the merits of the individual property or borrower. It's most associated with lenders and insurers, but the concept can reach appraisal and other services too.

A quick way to keep these apart: steering moves the buyer, blockbusting scares the seller, redlining is the lender drawing lines.

What does the ADA require?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) focuses on accessibility in commercial properties and places of public accommodation, things like stores, offices, restaurants, and similar spaces open to the public. The general idea you need is that those facilities must be accessible to people with disabilities.

Don't confuse the ADA with fair housing. Fair housing is about discrimination in residential housing; the ADA is about access to commercial and public spaces. On the exam, if the scenario involves a retail building or office open to the public, you're in ADA territory.

RESPA: keeping settlement honest

RESPA, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, governs the settlement (closing) of federally related mortgage loans. Most residential mortgages qualify, so this law touches a lot of transactions.

The headline rule you must know: RESPA prohibits kickbacks and unearned fees. You can't pay or accept a fee, kickback, or thing of value for referring settlement business unless an actual service was performed for it. So no quiet referral payments between, say, an agent and a title company just for sending business their way. If the exam describes someone getting paid for a referral without doing real work, RESPA is your answer.

TILA and Regulation Z: truth in lending

The Truth in Lending Act (TILA), implemented through Regulation Z, is about disclosure. The point is that borrowers should understand the true cost of credit before they commit.

Two pieces of TILA/Reg Z surface on the exam. First, the APR (annual percentage rate), which expresses the cost of credit as a yearly rate including certain finance charges, so borrowers can compare loans on an apples-to-apples basis. Second, advertising trigger terms. When an ad states certain specific loan details, it triggers a requirement to disclose additional terms so the ad isn't misleading.

You don't need to recite every trigger term for this course. Just remember the principle: certain specifics in a credit ad require fuller disclosure. Vague language ("great rates available") generally doesn't trigger it; concrete numbers can. If a test question shows an ad listing a specific down payment or payment amount, think Reg Z.

How to study this section

Federal-law questions reward flat memorization more than reasoning. Build a quick recall drill: name the seven protected classes, define the three prohibited practices, and pair each acronym (ADA, RESPA, TILA/Reg Z) with its one-line job. Run that drill until it's automatic.

Then test yourself with mixed questions so you're forced to tell these laws apart under a little pressure. Our free Florida real estate practice exam is a good place to see how the state likes to phrase these. Remember, this is supplemental study help, not your required 63-hour course, and nothing here guarantees a passing score.

Up next: Property rights and the bundle of rights, the four government powers (PETE), estates, co-ownership, and the land-use controls that decide what you can actually do with a parcel.