Landlord Requirng Facebook

[ghotiff]

I read the link. An interesting discussion but nothing useful from a legal standpoint.

Personally I would not open a fake Facebook page as its illegal. I personally wouldn't but I understand if you choose to. If you do, it's harder to argue they they are being illegal, as you were/are illegal too.

You could argue maybe also that using your husbands Facebook is risking his job/safety. I'm sure there would be something there to legally argue. Maybe even from a privacy and student perspective. If I was a teacher I would not want students to find out where I live.

 

[Recovery4Me]

@ghotiff (((hugs)))

Solid point...I meant an 'dummy' account. I stand corrected or fine tuned.:)I was referring to an account not used for anything with an variable of the name which is permitted.

 

[Anarchy]

A few thoughts

Don't sign shit, until after you have taken advice

With some tenancies, the contract is for the property
if some one else buys the property, it comes with the sitting tenants AND their existing contracts, and those contracts can continue

That may be the case with yours

of course that doesn't stop new landlords or their agents trying to pull fast ones on un informed tenants, and that might be what you are seeing.

Certainly in England and Wales, property with some types of tenancy and sitting tenants, will typically sell for half of what it would have sold for if it was vacant possession. There is therefore a big financial gain (50% the value of the property) to be made if the buyer can pull a fast one on the tenants.

The whole area of tenancies is a complicated mess, and it varies widely between different jurisdictions.

Please, please get advice before you sign anything.

 

[anthony]

Personally I would not open a fake Facebook page as its illegal.

No, it isn't illegal. It is against Facebook terms of service, but it is not a law. Big difference.

It is no different than a user creating two accounts here. Whilst we know and can track such things, it is not a law, it is simply against our terms of service.

 

[Rumors]

Is this an amendment to a new lease? Part of your old lease? Or did they send it to all tenants just recently to sign?
The fair housing act wouldn't cover this. It is for discriminatory practices based on race, religion, sex, disability. Making the argument that social media is discriminatory would be a far reach. However, depending on the state you live there would be contractual laws that would keep them from adding an addendum mid contract. That doesn't necessarily mean that they have to renew a contract.
I can only tell you that I wouldn't sign it. Especially if they sent it out in the middle of your lease. They are bound to the lease agreement in place until the end of the term. Once that is up then anything is possible.

 

[ghotiff]

No, it isn't illegal. It is against Facebook terms of service, but it is not a law. Big difference.

Point taken. Sorry for overstating.
There was a legal something where the legal rights changed because of going against Facebook terms, but I don't remember enough to be accurate or useful.

 

[EveHarrington]

This "requirement" may be "legal" because courts/legislature haven't determined it to specifically be illegal. (This scenario happens a lot as tech issues are something new for the legal world.)

 

[Ronin]

This "requirement" may be "legal" because courts/legislature haven't determined it to specifically be illegal.

If it's not within the law, it's internal rules & bureaucracy, but they can't try to enforce it in connection with something as renting services, and as something with a legal authority.

 

[EveHarrington]

If it's not within the law, it's internal rules & bureaucracy, but they can't try to enforce it in connec...

Employers have attempted to force applicants to hand over Facebook passwords (yes, passwords!) on job applications. I believe it was later challenged in court. This is what I mean by if it's not specifically illegal then it's "legal". This is how US law works. Yes, they can try to enforce it, and won't be told to stop unless the letter of the law specifically prohibits this sort of action.

 

[Ronin]

I know, I'm aware of that.

However, hence why saying it should be challenged.

 

[scout86]

In most municipalities, a landlord has to have a license, or permit, or some sort of official approval to rent property. This might not be a task you want to take on yourself, but maybe your husband would. I think the licensing entity should be contacted and shown this document. Let THEM tell the landlord this isn't acceptable. That's a pretty outrageous request, IMO, but if people give in to it, they do. Are you friendly with any other tenants? If so, you might want to organize. I really don't think someone can legally refuse to rent to a person because that person refuses to get a FB account. It might be convenient for THEM, but that's beside the point completely.

 

[Fadeaway]

Update: My husband went in without me today and told them that it would be a threat to my safety. I am not fully sure what went down, but he said he didn't even give them a chance to try and argue it. They agreed to waive it due to me being a domestic violence victim.

I guess their reason is to eliminate bad reviews on facebook. This place does have a bad reputation but they have done a lot of work to improve it and they are trying to attract better tenants.