Purpose
Furnished Finder is committed to maintaining a fair, safe, and inclusive monthly housing marketplace (primarily 30+ day furnished rentals) for travelers and housing providers.
Because many stays on Furnished Finder are monthly or longer, housing providers may set reasonable, objective, neutral screening criteria (such as income verification, rental history, or background checks). However, screening criteria may not be used to discriminate based on protected characteristics and must be applied consistently.
Users must not publish content or engage in conduct that unlawfully discriminates, expresses a discriminatory preference, or discourages housing opportunities based on protected characteristics. Language is considered discouraging if a reasonable person in a protected class would interpret it as signaling exclusion or unequal treatment.
This policy applies to:
Listings (titles, descriptions, house rules, photo captions, amenities, and any “requirements” fields)
Messages and other communications facilitated by the platform
Screening questions and application requirements communicated through the platform
Account profiles and any other user-generated content connected to a housing opportunity
Legal Framework and Platform Standard
Users are responsible for complying with all applicable federal, state, and local fair housing and anti-discrimination laws. In the United States, this includes the Fair Housing Act (FHA).
Because Furnished Finder primarily facilitates 30+ day furnished rentals, many transactions will be treated as residential housing and may be subject to federal, state, and local fair housing and landlord-tenant laws, depending on jurisdiction and the facts of the rental.
Furnished Finder may enforce platform standards that are more restrictive than the minimum required by law. Even if a user believes a legal exemption may apply in a particular scenario, Furnished Finder may require removal of language or conduct that is discriminatory, exclusionary, discouraging, or inconsistent with platform standards. Furnished Finder does not adjudicate or rely on statutory fair housing exemptions when enforcing this policy.
Protected Characteristics (U.S. baseline)
In the U.S., the FHA prohibits discrimination in housing-related transactions based on:
Race
Color
Religion
National origin
Disability
Familial status
Sex (including discrimination related to sexual orientation and gender identity under HUD’s enforcement approach)
Note: State and local laws may provide additional protected categories (e.g., marital status, age, source of income, military status). Users must comply with applicable local requirements.
Prohibited Content and Conduct
The following are not permitted on Furnished Finder.
A. Discriminatory Advertising and Listing Language
Users may not publish content that indicates a preference, limitation, or exclusion based on a protected characteristic, or that would reasonably discourage someone from seeking housing.
Examples of prohibited listing language include:
“Females only” / “Males only”
“Female nurse preferred.”
“No men allowed.”
“Only renting to women.”
“No LGBTQ” / “No transgender renters”
“Ideal for Christian tenants” (when used to signal preference/exclusion rather than describing nearby amenities or community features)
“No kids” / “Not a good fit for families”
Also prohibited:
Coded or discouraging language that signals exclusion (e.g., “traditional values only,” “must be ‘normal’”)
“Steering” statements that direct people toward or away from housing due to a protected characteristic
Stating or implying different terms based on a protected characteristic (e.g., higher deposit “for men,” different rules for women, or “no kids because they’re loud”)
B. Discriminatory Screening, Selection, or Rejection
Users may not:
Refuse to rent, negotiate, or schedule a viewing because of a protected characteristic
Make a protected characteristic a condition of eligibility
Ask questions designed to identify or screen out protected characteristics (e.g., “Are you transgender?”, “Are you planning to have children?”)
Apply different pricing, fees, deposits, occupancy terms, or house rules based on protected characteristics
Harass or pressure users to disclose protected characteristics
Permitted screening (must be objective and consistently applied)
Because Furnished Finder focuses on monthly and other longer-term stays, housing providers may use objective, neutral criteria such as:
Income or employment verification
Prior rental references
Credit history (where lawful)
Background checks (where lawful)
Reasonable occupancy limits based on unit size and local code
Requirements for screening criteria
Criteria must be applied consistently to all applicants.
Criteria must be tied to legitimate, non-discriminatory business needs and must not be used as a pretext to deny housing because of a protected characteristic.
Where used, background screening must comply with applicable laws, including any local restrictions on the use of criminal history and credit information.
Even neutral screening criteria may be impermissible if they have an unlawful discriminatory impact and are not necessary to achieve a legitimate business purpose.
C. Disability-Related Obligations and Reasonable Accommodations
Users may not refuse to rent, impose different terms, or discourage applicants because of disability.
Where required by applicable law, housing providers must consider reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications for individuals with disabilities. This may include accommodations relating to assistance animals, accessible parking, or other disability-related needs, consistent with applicable law.
D. Harassment, Hate, or Retaliation
Users may not:
Harass, threaten, demean, or use slurs based on protected characteristics
Retaliate against someone for raising a fair housing concern or reporting discrimination (e.g., threats, intimidation, or punitive actions)
Shared Living Arrangements (Limited, Narrow Allowance)
Furnished Finder’s standard is that entire-unit rentals may not restrict or prefer tenants by sex/gender.
For shared living arrangements (including room rentals in occupied homes, even for monthly or longer stays), some jurisdictions and legal interpretations recognize limited privacy-based considerations where the renter will share intimate/common spaces (e.g., a shared bathroom or bedroom). Shared living arrangements do not include situations where only general building amenities (e.g., hallways, laundry rooms) are shared. Furnished Finder will consider a narrow, privacy-based allowance only when all of the following are true:
The offering is clearly a shared living arrangement (e.g., room rental in an occupied home), and
The traveler will share common areas such as a bathroom and/or kitchen with others in the home, and
The language is framed as a privacy-based consideration, not hostility or exclusion
Acceptable (shared living only; privacy-based and neutrally phrased):
“Room in a shared home with shared bathroom. Current occupants are women. Privacy considerations may be discussed with applicants.”
“Owner-occupied home with shared kitchen/bath. Current occupants are women; we will consider privacy needs when selecting a roommate.”
Not Acceptable (Even in Shared Living)
“No men allowed” / “Men not welcome”
Any preference/exclusion based on race, religion, national origin, disability, familial status, sexual orientation, or gender identity
Any degrading, threatening, or harassing language
Any language that discourages protected groups from inquiring or applying
Landlords remain responsible for ensuring that any shared-living preference language is lawful in the property’s jurisdiction. Furnished Finder may remove or require edits to any language that is exclusionary, escalatory, or inconsistent with platform standards.
Enforcement
Violations of this policy may result in content removal, listing edits, account warnings, suspension, or removal from the platform, depending on severity and recurrence.
What This Means in Practice for Furnished Finder’s Monthly Rentals
In practice, for Furnished Finder’s mostly monthly rentals, this means:
Housing providers may screen applicants using neutral, consistently applied criteria.
Housing providers may not advertise, prefer, limit, or select tenants based on protected characteristics.
Housing providers may express only limited, privacy-based sex/gender considerations in clearly communicated living situations (e.g., roommate-style arrangements) and only in neutral language.
Travelers who believe they were treated unfairly due to a protected characteristic should save relevant records (e.g., screenshots, messages) and contact Furnished Finder Support for review.
Click here to learn how Furnished Finder handles reported violations.