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Cases from the past year offer six important lessons.

While many fees are perfectly legitimate, some fees add up to illegal discrimination.

We’ll give you six rules for avoiding liability risks when setting and enforcing occupancy standards.

We’ll tell you what happened in each case—and how it may impact your property.

Most of you are pretty familiar with what the fair housing laws require. But it’s in the court rooms and administrative tribunals where the broad rules and principles of fair housing law are actually applied to real world situations. So, every once in a while we need to take a step back and look at what has been taking place in fair housing litigation across the country. And that’s precisely what this month’s lesson will do.

Tenants who abuse drugs and alcohol may be endangering not only themselves but also their neighbors. Tenant substance abuse can result in criminal activity, violence, fires, disturbances, and other threats to apartment community health, safety, and tranquility. But, from a legal standpoint, cracking down on substance abuse isn’t so simple. For one thing, drug and alcohol dependency and addiction aren’t just social problems but diseases. As such, they may qualify as “disabilities” protected by fair housing laws.

Because enforcement is so active and penalties are so high, it’s easy to forget that complying with the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) may not be enough to insulate your community from liability. That’s because most states (and many municipalities) have adopted their own fair housing laws that go beyond the minimum FHA requirements, particularly with regard to the kinds of people they protect. For example, 23 states ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Look at your watch and count off 60 seconds. If the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) averages hold true, by the time you’re done, 20 people in the U.S. will have suffered physical abuse at the hands of an intimate partner. What people do to each other in their own homes is directly relevant to you if you’re in the business of renting housing. That’s because, of the more than 10 million cases of domestic violence reported each year, 77 percent occur in or near the victim’s home.

Leasing to students who attend or college or university in your geographic market can be an excellent source of income. At least 79 percent of the students attending a two- or four-year college live off-campus, according to the Urban Institute. In many rental markets, demand for student rental housing exceeds supply. Leasing to students also offers certain advantages, like the willingness of students to sign multi-year leases, even though they typically leave town during the summer.

More than 25 million people in the U.S. have limited ability to speak, understand, write, and read the English language. That’s about 9 percent of the national population. Sadly, people in this “limited English proficiency” (LEP) group frequently get doors slammed in their faces. Such unfavorable treatment can and does occur in the rental housing context. Sometimes it’s deliberate; sometimes it’s the inadvertent and unforeseen effect of policies and practices favoring English speakers and restricting the use of other languages.

HUD is stepping up enforcement of the laws banning LGBT discrimination.