October 2026 | Page 48

HUD Resets Clock on Fair Housing Design and Construction Claims

Agency guidance provides new interpretation regarding the statute of limitations for accessibility claims.

BY AYESHA BEVERLY AND EMILY HOWARD

Image: A concrete building facade with windows and a sign reading “Department of Housing and Urban Development.”

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• HUD has announced that the Fair Housing Act's one-year statute of limitations for administrative complaints involving design and construction violations begins when construction is completed, as evidenced by the issuance of the initial certificate of occupancy.
• Under new guidance, administrative complaints must be filed with Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) office within one year of the initial certificate of occupancy for the covered dwelling.
• The continued existence of an inaccessible feature does not restart or extend the limitations period because the failure to design and construct a covered multifamily dwelling consistent with the Fair Housing Act is a discrete, rather than continuing, violation.

On August 31, 2026, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) issued new guidance (the Guidance) regarding the statute of limitations for design and construction accessibility claims. In the Guidance, HUD takes the position that the Fair Housing Act’s (FHA) one-year statute of limitations for administrative complaints alleging design and construction violations in covered multifamily dwellings begins to run, or start, from the issuance of the certificate of occupancy. “Covered multifamily dwellings” include all units in buildings first occupied after March 13, 1991, with an elevator and four or more residential units, and all ground floor units in buildings without an elevator and four or more units.

The Guidance provides that “...noncompliance with [FHA’s] accessibility requirements is a discrete, rather than continuing, violation of the law” because the unlawful practice for design and construction claims is the failure to design and construct accessible features during the construction phase, not the ongoing existence of inaccessible features once a building is complete.