by FantasyLab

Fair Housing phrase guide / Sex, incl. sexual orientation & gender identity

Is “single woman” a Fair Housing violation in a listing?

Avoid Flagged as high risk. Most word lists put this on the avoid side.

Why

Describes the buyer by sex and marital/family status. "Single woman, man" is on the avoid side of LIBOR and on the caution lists of NYPA and CRMLS.

Safer wording

There's no one-click rewrite for this one. Describe the property, not the people, and rewrite this part by hand.

What the tag means

Avoid means an explicit preference or limitation, or a phrase on the avoid side of the cited word lists. This is the risk end of the scale, not a style choice.

Check your own wording

1 phrase to look at

  • Avoid “single woman”

    Describes the buyer by sex and marital/family status. "Single woman, man" is on the avoid side of LIBOR and on the caution lists of NYPA and CRMLS.

A word check, not a legal review. Open the full checker for fixes, the fact lock and the MLS character count.

What the law covers here

Sex is a protected class under the federal Fair Housing Act. The flagged phrases describe who the home is for by sex or marital role (a bachelor pad, a man cave as a selling point to men). Many states and cities also name sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes, so check your own state's list.

Sources

Related phrases

All sex, incl. sexual orientation & gender identity phrases on one page · The 12-check listing checklist

Not legal advice. Word lists can't judge context, and laws differ by state and city, with some protecting more classes than federal law does. If you're unsure about a listing, ask your broker or a fair housing attorney. Rule sex-single, ListingLint rules v2026.10.2.