Where this fits on the exam
| Official syllabus topic | State Laws and Rules: Fair Housing Laws |
|---|---|
| Official PSI group | State Laws and Rules |
| Published group count | 16 of the 52 Georgia questions |
| Exam portion | Georgia salesperson supplement |
| Source edition | PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin dated July 1, 2026 |
The Rule
PSI publishes 16, 21, and 15 items for the three Georgia groups. It does not publish a guaranteed subtopic count. The statute, current GREC rule, contract, or other cited primary authority controls each lesson.
The lesson
Federal baseline
The Fair Housing Act protects race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability in covered housing activities.
Georgia license rule
Rule 520-1-.13 prohibits specified representations and conduct by licensees, including neighborhood-change claims based on protected characteristics.
Two consequences
The same act may be investigated under federal fair housing law and treated as a Georgia licensing violation. The enforcement paths are distinct.
Exemptions are narrow
A federal exemption does not automatically permit discriminatory advertising, and a licensee's participation can remove or limit reliance on exemptions.
Decision rule
Georgia rule and national contrast
Worked Georgia example
Scenario. A licensee tells an owner that families with children will lower neighborhood property values and recommends rejecting them.
Reason it through. Familial status is federally protected, and Rule 520-1-.13 expressly targets representations that protected-class presence will lower values.
Answer. The statement and recommendation violate fair housing duties and can support Georgia license discipline.
Common exam traps
- Inventing statewide protected classes
- Assuming an exemption permits discriminatory ads
- Treating preference language as harmless
- Forgetting the separate licensing consequence
Original practice questions with detailed explanations
These are original instructional questions mapped to the July 1, 2026 PSI outline. They are not copied from PSI or a live examination. Choose an answer before opening the explanation.
Question 1A licensee tells a seller that families with children will lower neighborhood property values and advises rejecting their offers. What follows?
- A. Nothing, because familial status is protected only in rentals
- B. Only a federal issue, because GREC does not police housing bias
- C. Only a Georgia license issue, because no offer was refused yet
- D. Possible federal liability and Georgia license discipline
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: D. Possible federal liability and Georgia license discipline
Familial status is federally protected, and GREC's fair housing rule expressly targets claims that a protected group's presence will lower property values. The same conduct can bring federal liability and Georgia license discipline on separate paths. The federal-only answer misses that GREC treats the conduct as a licensing violation too.
- A. Incorrect. Familial-status protections apply to covered sales as well as rentals.
- B. Incorrect. GREC's fair-housing rule also reaches this discriminatory advice.
- C. Incorrect. Discriminatory statements and advice can violate fair-housing law before an offer is actually rejected.
- D. Correct. The advice can trigger federal fair-housing liability and a separate Georgia licensing proceeding.
Question 2Which characteristic is a protected class under the federal Fair Housing Act?
- A. Disability
- B. Age
- C. Marital status
- D. Source of income
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. Disability
The federal Act protects race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability. Age and marital status are not protected classes under federal or Georgia law. Marital status looks plausible because it sounds like familial status, but familial status concerns children in the household.
- A. Correct. Disability is one of the federal Fair Housing Act's seven protected characteristics.
- B. Incorrect. Age is not one of the federal Act's seven protected classes; local protections may differ.
- C. Incorrect. Marital status is distinct from federally protected familial status.
- D. Incorrect. Source of income is not a federal Fair Housing Act protected class, though other laws may protect it.
Question 3An owner who qualifies for a federal fair housing exemption asks a licensee to run an ad saying 'no families with kids.' What is the problem?
- A. None, because the owner's exemption covers the ad
- B. None, if the ad runs only on the owner's own website
- C. The exemption does not cover discriminatory ads
- D. Only the wording, which is fine as 'adults preferred'
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: C. The exemption does not cover discriminatory ads
A federal exemption does not automatically permit discriminatory advertising, and a licensee's participation can remove or limit reliance on the exemption. The licensee also risks Georgia license discipline for the ad. The exemption answer looks plausible because the owner does qualify, but exemptions are narrow.
- A. Incorrect. An exemption from some transaction provisions does not authorize discriminatory advertising.
- B. Incorrect. Putting discriminatory wording on an owner's website does not remove the advertising prohibition.
- C. Correct. The federal advertising restriction can apply even when the owner qualifies for a transaction exemption.
- D. Incorrect. Adults preferred still communicates a preference against families with children.
Ready to move on?
You are ready for the next lesson when all of these are true.
- Name the seven federal protected classes without adding age or marital status.
- Recognize steering, blockbusting, and discriminatory advertising in a scenario.
- Explain how one act can violate federal housing law and Georgia license rules.
- Answer the practice questions without looking back, then explain why the other choices fail.
- Explain the worked example in your own words and identify the fact that decides the answer.
- Retest this topic on another day in a mixed question set.
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Georgia Broker and Qualifying-Broker Supervision. Fair housing compliance is part of what a broker must teach and watch for, and the next lesson covers the broker's duty to instruct affiliated licensees, written affiliation agreements, and responsibility for support staff.
Return to the State Laws and Rules hub for the complete official branch and the full lesson list for this Georgia group.