The seven classes protected by the federal Fair Housing Act as amended are:

race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status

race, color, creed, occupation, sex, disability, and familial status

race, color, religion, national origin, sex, source of income, and familial status

race, color, religion, age, sex, disability, and marital status

The so-called Mrs. Murphy exemption under the Fair Housing Act may apply to:

an owner-occupied dwelling containing no more than four units

any apartment building with fewer than 20 units

any rental property managed by a licensed property manager

a duplex owned by a corporation whose officers live in the neighborhood

The Fair Housing Act exemption for the sale of a single-family home by its private owner requires that the owner:

own no more than three such homes and use no broker and no discriminatory advertising

sell the home for less than the annual price ceiling that HUD publishes for the local market

have occupied the home for at least ten years

hold an active real estate license

An owner whose transaction otherwise qualifies for a Fair Housing Act exemption may still be liable if the owner:

publishes an advertisement stating a preference based on a protected class

refuses to negotiate with a prospect over the telephone rather than in person

declines to pay a commission to a buyer broker

sells to the highest bidder rather than the first bidder

A local real estate board refuses to admit a broker to its multiple listing service because of the broker’s religion. Under the federal Fair Housing Act this is:

unlawful, because the Act separately bars discrimination in brokerage services

lawful, because no dwelling was actually sold or rented

unlawful only after the broker exhausts the board’s internal appeal

lawful, because the board is a private membership organization

Exam vocabulary · federal fair housing statute

What Is Fair Housing Act in Real Estate?

Definition

The Fair Housing Act is the federal law that prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, financing and advertising of housing on the basis of seven protected classes. Those classes are race, colour, religion, national origin, sex, familial status and disability, and complaints are investigated by HUD.

How the exam tests fair housing act

These mirror the phrasing you will see on test day. Answer them, then read the explanation whether or not you got it right.

Fair Housing Act: exam questions1/8

Practice of real estate

What distinguishes the Civil Rights Act of 1866 from the Fair Housing Act of 1968?

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Every fair housing act question, answered

Every question above with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Read the explanations for the ones you answered correctly too. A lucky guess and knowing the rule look identical on a score report. These are sample questions from our larger bank.

1. What distinguishes the Civil Rights Act of 1866 from the Fair Housing Act of 1968?
- AThe 1866 Act bars racial discrimination with no exemptions whatsoevercorrect
- BThe 1866 Act applies only to commercial property
- CThe 1866 Act was repealed by the 1968 Act
- DThe 1866 Act covers more protected classes
Why: The 1866 Act covers race alone but admits no exemptions — confirmed in Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. The 1968 Act covers more classes but allows limited exemptions, so a sale exempt under 1968 can still violate 1866 if race was the reason.
Practice of real estate
2. How many protected classes does the federal Fair Housing Act currently recognize?
- AFour
- BFive
- CSevencorrect
- DNine
Why: Seven: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status and disability. Sex was added in 1974; familial status and disability in 1988.
Practice of real estate
3. The seven classes protected by the federal Fair Housing Act as amended are:
- Arace, color, creed, occupation, sex, disability, and familial status
- Brace, color, religion, national origin, sex, source of income, and familial status
- Crace, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial statuscorrect
- Drace, color, religion, age, sex, disability, and marital status
Why: The federally protected classes are race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status. Age, marital status, and source of income are not federal fair housing classes, although some appear in other statutes such as the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
Property disclosures
4. Disability and familial status became protected classes under the federal Fair Housing Act in:
- A1968
- B1974
- C1988correct
- D1991
Why: The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 added disability and familial status. Sex had been added in 1974, and the original 1968 statute covered race, color, religion, and national origin.
Property disclosures
5. The so-called Mrs. Murphy exemption under the Fair Housing Act may apply to:
- Aan owner-occupied dwelling containing no more than four unitscorrect
- Bany apartment building with fewer than 20 units
- Cany rental property managed by a licensed property manager
- Da duplex owned by a corporation whose officers live in the neighborhood
Why: The exemption can reach a dwelling of four units or fewer in which the owner actually lives in one of the units. It is unavailable to a corporate owner, and it never permits discriminatory advertising or racial discrimination.
Property disclosures
6. The Fair Housing Act exemption for the sale of a single-family home by its private owner requires that the owner:
- Asell the home for less than the annual price ceiling that HUD publishes for the local market
- Bown no more than three such homes and use no broker and no discriminatory advertisingcorrect
- Chave occupied the home for at least ten years
- Dhold an active real estate license
Why: The exemption applies only where the private owner engages no real estate licensee, publishes no discriminatory advertising or statements, and does not own more than three such single-family homes at one time.
Property disclosures
7. An owner whose transaction otherwise qualifies for a Fair Housing Act exemption may still be liable if the owner:
- Arefuses to negotiate with a prospect over the telephone rather than in person
- Bdeclines to pay a commission to a buyer broker
- Csells to the highest bidder rather than the first bidder
- Dpublishes an advertisement stating a preference based on a protected classcorrect
Why: The ban on discriminatory advertising, notices, and statements applies to everyone, so no exemption protects an owner who advertises a preference or limitation based on a protected class.
Property disclosures
8. A local real estate board refuses to admit a broker to its multiple listing service because of the broker’s religion. Under the federal Fair Housing Act this is:
- Alawful, because no dwelling was actually sold or rented
- Bunlawful only after the broker exhausts the board’s internal appeal
- Clawful, because the board is a private membership organization
- Dunlawful, because the Act separately bars discrimination in brokerage servicescorrect
Why: The Act makes it unlawful to deny any person access to or membership in a multiple listing service, a brokers’ organization, or any comparable facility relating to the business of selling or renting dwellings on the basis of a protected class. That prohibition stands on its own, so no completed sale and no internal appeal is needed before it applies.
Property disclosures

Where fair housing act sits in the exam vocabulary

Fair Housing Act is a federal fair housing statute, and so are civil rights act of 1866. That matters more than it sounds: a multiple-choice item builds its wrong answers out of siblings like these, because they are the options that look plausible to someone who has learned the category but not the distinction. If fair housing act appears as the correct answer, expect to see civil rights act of 1866 on the same screen.

Fair Housing Act does not stand on its own: it assumes you already know protected class. Questions that look like they are testing fair housing act are often really testing whether that idea is solid underneath it.

The exam most often tries to catch you by putting fair housing act next to civil rights act of 1866. Each of those is a real concept sitting close enough to be tempting, and the question usually turns on the single feature that separates them rather than on the definition of either one. Read the contrast, not the term.

Words that mean fair housing act, but only sometimes

These are conditional synonyms. Each one is interchangeable with fair housing act in the context stated beside it and misleading everywhere else, which is precisely the kind of distinction an exam item is built on.

Title VIII: equivalent to fair housing act in the Act is Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, so exams use the two names interchangeably.
Civil Rights Act of 1968: equivalent to fair housing act in when naming the parent statute that the Fair Housing Act forms part of.

Related exam terms

Tested alongside

Often confused with

Know this first

Fair Housing Act belongs to the federal fair housing statute family of exam concepts. When it is solid, take the free real estate exam prep or browse the full real estate exam vocabulary.