Where this fits on the exam
| Official syllabus topic | Fair Housing Advertising, ADA Access, Accommodation, and Modification |
|---|---|
| Official PSI area | Practice of Real Estate |
| Published area weight | 12% of the national portion |
| Exam portion | National salesperson portion |
| Source edition | PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin dated July 1, 2026 |
The Rule
PSI publishes the weight for the complete content area, not a fixed question count for this lesson. Learn the rule well enough to apply it when PSI changes names, numbers, or parties in a new scenario.
The lesson
Ad content
Describe the property and neutral terms, not an ideal resident. Phrases, photographs, symbols, selective language versions, and statements about children, religion, disability, sex, or ethnicity can communicate prohibited preference.
Ad delivery
A neutral-looking ad can still discriminate if targeting or exclusion settings prevent protected groups from receiving it. Audit platform audiences and use broad, property-based placement.
Accommodation and modification
Accommodation changes policy; modification changes the physical environment. Cost responsibility varies by housing program and law, and a provider cannot impose unnecessary conditions.
ADA public access
Brokerage offices, model-home sales areas, and leasing offices open to the public may be places of public accommodation, requiring nondiscriminatory access and reasonable policy modifications.
Federal housing exemptions
The owner-occupied exemption for a dwelling housing no more than four independently living families and the qualifying private-owner single-family exemption are limited. They do not excuse discriminatory advertising. The single-family exemption has ownership, brokerage, advertising, and other statutory conditions. State or local protections can be broader, and federal race protections can apply independently.
Housing for older persons
Qualifying older-person housing may be exempt from familial-status restrictions, rather than every protected-class rule. For the 55-or-older category, at least 80% of occupied units generally must contain at least one person age 55 or older, alongside required policies and age verification. A marketing label alone does not qualify the community.
Public-office access
ADA Title III can require reasonable policy modifications and removal of barriers in an existing public accommodation when readily achievable. New construction and alterations have separate accessibility standards. Do not assume an older building is exempt or that one expensive proposal eliminates every practical access improvement.
Decision rule
Georgia-specific distinction
Worked example
Scenario. A property manager targets an apartment ad only to users whom a platform classifies as having no children.
Reason it through. Audience exclusion can express or implement a familial-status preference even if the visible wording is neutral.
Answer. The campaign presents fair housing risk and should use lawful property-based targeting.
Common exam traps
- Reviewing words but not images
- Ignoring audience exclusions
- Calling every accessibility request a modification
- Assuming ADA replaces fair housing
Original practice questions with detailed explanations
These questions were written for instruction and mapped to the current outline. They are not copied from PSI or any live examination. Choose an answer before opening the explanation.
Question 1Which rental ad phrase is most likely to violate fair housing advertising rules?
- A. Two-bedroom unit near a bus line
- B. Perfect for a quiet adult couple
- C. No smoking inside the unit
- D. Walking distance to shopping
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. Perfect for a quiet adult couple
Ads should describe the property, not an ideal resident, and a phrase aimed at an adult couple signals a preference against families with children, a familial status problem. The no-smoking line is plausible to flag, but smoking is conduct, not a protected characteristic.
- A. Incorrect. Room count and transit access describe the property without selecting a protected type of resident.
- B. Correct. An adult-couple preference can signal exclusion of families with children from ordinary rental housing.
- C. Incorrect. A no-smoking rule concerns conduct, rather than a listed fair housing protected characteristic.
- D. Incorrect. Proximity to shopping describes location, rather than a preferred resident.
Question 2A landlord runs a neutrally worded apartment ad online but sets the audience to exclude users the platform identifies as parents. What is the problem?
- A. None, because the ad's wording is neutral
- B. Only the platform can be liable for targeting
- C. None, because parental status is not protected
- D. The delivery settings can discriminate by familial status
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: D. The delivery settings can discriminate by familial status
Fair housing reaches who receives an ad, not only what it says, so excluding parents can deny housing information based on familial status. The neutral wording is the trap: a clean ad sent to a filtered audience can still discriminate.
- A. Incorrect. Neutral words do not excuse discriminatory decisions about who receives the advertisement.
- B. Incorrect. A housing provider can be responsible for its own discriminatory audience choices.
- C. Incorrect. Excluding families with children can implicate the Act's familial status protection.
- D. Correct. Audience exclusion can deny families with children access to housing information.
Question 3A tenant who uses a wheelchair asks permission to install grab bars in the unit's bathroom. How is this request classified?
- A. A reasonable modification
- B. A reasonable accommodation
- C. An ADA Title III access request
- D. A lease violation the landlord may refuse
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. A reasonable modification
A modification changes the physical premises, while an accommodation changes a rule, policy or service. Accommodation can look relevant because both involve disability, but installing grab bars is a physical change, and ADA Title III covers public-facing spaces like a leasing office, not the tenant's own unit.
- A. Correct. Grab bars physically alter the bathroom, making this a modification request.
- B. Incorrect. An accommodation changes a rule or service; the requested work changes the premises.
- C. Incorrect. A private dwelling request is analyzed under housing law, rather than automatically under ADA Title III.
- D. Incorrect. A blanket refusal ignores the requirement to allow qualifying reasonable modifications.
Question 4An owner lives in one unit of a four-unit dwelling and claims a federal owner-occupied housing exemption. May the owner publish an ad stating 'No applicants of this religion'?
- A. Yes, every rule is waived for four-unit buildings
- B. No, discriminatory advertising remains prohibited
- C. Yes, if no real estate broker places the ad
- D. No, because the exemption covers only buildings with five units
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. No, discriminatory advertising remains prohibited
The limited owner-occupied exemption does not remove the federal advertising prohibition. Other laws can also protect applicants.
- A. Incorrect. The exemption is limited and does not waive discriminatory-advertising rules.
- B. Correct. The religious exclusion in the public advertisement remains prohibited.
- C. Incorrect. The advertising prohibition is not avoided by placing the ad personally.
- D. Incorrect. The stated four-family limit is relevant; the error is claiming it excuses the advertisement.
Question 5A community satisfies the federal requirements for 55-or-older housing. Its manager says this allows rejecting applicants because of their national origin. Is that correct?
- A. Yes, older-person status exempts every protected class
- B. Yes, if the restriction is in the bylaws
- C. No, the qualifying exemption concerns familial status
- D. No, older-person housing can never qualify for any exemption
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: C. No, the qualifying exemption concerns familial status
The exemption concerns familial status. It does not authorize national-origin discrimination.
- A. Incorrect. Qualification does not eliminate all fair-housing protections.
- B. Incorrect. A bylaw cannot create permission for prohibited national-origin discrimination.
- C. Correct. The narrow exemption leaves protection against national-origin discrimination in place.
- D. Incorrect. Qualifying older-person housing can have a familial-status exemption, so that blanket denial is wrong.
Question 6A brokerage's existing office is open to the public. A movable display blocks its otherwise accessible entrance. The broker says the old building predates the ADA, so nothing must change. What is the best response?
- A. Leave it because all older buildings are exempt
- B. Evaluate access and move the display as a readily achievable barrier removal
- C. Close the business because every barrier requires complete reconstruction
- D. Provide service only to customers who can use that entrance
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. Evaluate access and move the display as a readily achievable barrier removal
Existing public accommodations can have ongoing barrier-removal duties. Moving a display is an example of a practical action, rather than assuming age creates an exemption.
- A. Incorrect. Existing facilities are not categorically exempt because they are old.
- B. Correct. Removing the movable obstruction is a practical way to restore the accessible entrance.
- C. Incorrect. The duty does not automatically require complete rebuilding for this movable obstacle.
- D. Incorrect. Unequal service based on inability to enter does not address the access barrier.
Ready to move on?
You are ready for the next lesson when all of these are true.
- Explain Fair Housing Advertising, ADA Access, Accommodation, and Modification in one clear answer without notes.
- Separate Ad content from Ad delivery using a fresh example.
- Apply the decision rule to a new fact pattern and name the fact that controls the result.
- State the Georgia-specific point or explain why the national rule applies unchanged.
- Answer every practice question and explain the rule each rejected option misapplies.
- Revisit this topic later in mixed practice without category labels.
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Employee Versus Independent Contractor Status. Employee Versus Independent Contractor Status explains why the broker review that should catch a discriminatory ad still applies to an agent paid as an independent contractor, since a tax label does not change Georgia supervision duties.
Return to the Practice of Real Estate hub to see every official branch and the complete lesson sequence for this content area.