AG Brown today announced that the Civil Rights Division of the Office of the Attorney General has reached a settlement with Bay Management Group, LLC (Bay Management) to resolve a claim of racial discrimination that resulted from tenant screening advertisements and applicant-facing materials used for Maryland rental housing that included criminal history language.  

“A ‘clean background check required’ ad is a rejection letter in disguise. It tells people not to bother before they’ve even applied. This settlement takes that language off the table and requires housing providers to make an individualized assessment, not a blanket rejection based on a single line in an ad.” – AG Brown