“Vegan landlords tell prospective tenants not to cook meat or fish in apartments”

it seems like. The city’s human rights law lists 14 characteristics that landlords must not consider when deciding whether to rent an apartment to someone, including age, race, family status, occupation, source of income, Includes sexual orientation. It’s not that I like hamburgers.

Loading

This “allowed unless specifically prohibited” interpretation of the anti-discrimination law makes it perfectly legal for landlords to refuse to rent to smokers, who are also not a protected class.

Lucas Ferrara, adjunct professor at New York Law School, co-author of multiple books Landlord and Tenant Practice in New YorkFor example, he said prospective tenants could fight a meat ban by demonstrating that they have a medical condition that requires some kind of “reasonable accommodation” on the part of their landlord.

“Without such exceptions, this restriction would be permissible,” Ferrara wrote.

A nextdoor.com listing that mentioned the rule was removed Friday, the day after it was posted, but Douglas Elliman still lists apartments on his site, though he doesn’t mention a meat policy. His listing states, “We accept cats on a case-by-case basis (one cat please).”

Curious couples who didn’t know about meat rules hesitated when they heard it.

“Oh, we don’t meet those requirements,” said a woman, Tessa Ruben.

So she and her partner, Darien Ghasemi, thought some more.

“I just order a lot,” said Ruben, 29, who works for a nonprofit.

“The terrace looks cool,” said Ghasemi, a 31-year-old salesperson.

They didn’t have an appointment to view the apartment, so they weren’t allowed into the building. After some more discussion, they decided this was probably the best.

“More than the rules themselves, what makes me nervous is knowing there are people upstairs making sure the rules are being followed,” Ms. Reuben said.

This article was originally published on new york times.

Receive notes directly from foreigners correspondent about what is going on around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter here.