42 USC § 3605 — Discrimination in residential real estate-related transactions

fha-42usc-3605

Fair Housing Act §3605 — the lender-direct anti-discrimination prohibition. Bars discrimination by any entity whose business includes residential real estate-related transactions — explicitly including the making or purchasing of mortgage loans, financial assistance secured by residential real estate, brokering, and appraising. This is the operative Fair Housing Act provision binding [LENDER] in mortgage origination, secondary-market purchase, and appraisal-related conduct.

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source:
  type: regulation
  id: fha-42usc-3605
  authority: 42 USC § 3605 — Discrimination in residential real estate-related transactions
  description: |
    Fair Housing Act §3605 — the lender-direct anti-discrimination
    prohibition. Bars discrimination by any entity whose business
    includes residential real estate-related transactions — explicitly
    including the making or purchasing of mortgage loans, financial
    assistance secured by residential real estate, brokering, and
    appraising. This is the operative Fair Housing Act provision binding
    [LENDER] in mortgage origination, secondary-market purchase, and
    appraisal-related conduct.
obligations:
  - id: fha-42usc-3605-a-no-discrimination-in-residential-re-transactions
    canonical_id: fha-42usc-3605-a-no-discrimination-in-residential-re-transactions
    section: 42 USC § 3605(a) — Prohibition on discrimination in residential real estate transactions
    description: |
      [LENDER], whose business includes engaging in residential real
      estate-related transactions, shall not discriminate against any
      person in making available such a transaction, or in the terms or
      conditions of such a transaction, because of race, color, religion,
      sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. "Residential
      real estate-related transaction" includes making or purchasing
      loans (or providing other financial assistance) for purchasing,
      constructing, improving, repairing, or maintaining a dwelling, or
      secured by residential real estate, and the selling, brokering, or
      appraising of residential real property.
    type: refrain
    audit_question: For every mortgage origination, purchase decision, pricing/terms decision, and appraisal procurement, can [LENDER] evidence non-discriminatory treatment on each of the §3605 protected bases — supported by HMDA data analysis, fair-lending statistical testing, and exception-tracking?
    program_review: Do the P&Ps facilitate non-discriminatory treatment across origination, purchase, pricing/terms, and appraisal procurement — supported by HMDA-data analysis, fair-lending statistical testing, and exception tracking — on each §3605 protected basis?
    file_review: Review the fair-lending testing output, HMDA analysis, and pricing/underwriting-exception logs; the compliance person judges whether any disparity on a protected basis is present and explained.
    judgment: true
    feeds: []
    workflow_phase: loan_origination
    owner_role: fair_lending_officer
    secondary_owner_role: compliance_officer
    cadence: continuous
    consequence: Fair Housing Act private right of action; HUD/DOJ enforcement; CFPB ECOA-overlap claims; HMDA data-driven scrutiny; major reputational + civil-penalty exposure.
    tags:
      - round-c
      - regulator-direct
      - fair-housing
      - fair-lending
      - origination
      - appraisal
      - promoted
    primary_source:
      tier: 1
      authority: 42 USC § 3605(a)
      source_class: fair-housing-statute
      source_url: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/3605
      snapshot_id: 474296f0067cf0d7
      fetched_at: '2026-05-24T19:33:25Z'
      content_hash: sha256:474296f0067cf0d7474296f0067cf0d7474296f0067cf0d7474296f0067cf0d7
      paragraph_quote: |
        It shall be unlawful for any person or other entity whose business includes engaging in residential real estate-related transactions to discriminate against any person in making available such a transaction, or in the terms or conditions of such a transaction
      drafter_attestation: |
        Copied verbatim from snapshot 474296f0067cf0d7. Substring is the
        (a) general prohibition; protected-bases list and (b) transaction
        definition paraphrased in description.
    sub_criteria:
      - id: csh-sc-fha-3605-protected-bases-each-decision
        statement: '[LENDER] documents each origination, pricing, and appraisal decision in a manner that supports non-discrimination on all §3605 protected bases (race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin).'
        derivation_kind: from-regulatory-text
        cite: 42 USC § 3605(a)
        evidence_kinds:
          - record
          - system_log
      - id: csh-sc-fha-3605-secondary-market-purchase-decisions
        statement: '[LENDER] subjects its loan-purchase / secondary-market acquisition decisions to fair-lending review on the §3605 bases (the section reaches the making OR purchasing of loans).'
        derivation_kind: from-regulatory-text
        cite: 42 USC § 3605(b)(1)
        evidence_kinds:
          - document
          - record
    promoted_at: '2026-05-24T20:12:09+00:00'
    promoted_from: fha-42usc-3605-roundc-v1.yaml
_promotion_history:
  - promoted_at: '2026-05-24T20:12:09+00:00'
    candidate_path: obligations\_remediation\round-c-type-a\fha-42usc-3605-roundc-v1.yaml
    candidates_promoted: 1
    candidates_skipped_existing: 0

Verbatim regulatory text (1)

Verbatim provisions from 42 USC § 3605 — Discrimination in residential real estate-related transactions — each quote is a verified substring of the regulator-published source snapshot, not retyped. Quoted for reference; this is not legal advice. The operational layer (P&P updates, prompts) lives in the regulation update kits.

42 USC § 3605(a) — Prohibition on discrimination in residential real estate transactions

It shall be unlawful for any person or other entity whose business includes engaging in residential real estate-related transactions to discriminate against any person in making available such a transaction, or in the terms or conditions of such a transaction

Source: 42 USC § 3605(a) · source URL · snapshot 474296f0067cf0d7