Which of the following is permissible under the law?

• A. Refusing to rent to a person because he is a social drinker.
• B. Refusing to rent to a person because of race.
• C. Refusing to rent to a family with children.
• D. Refusing to rent to someone with a poor credit history.

Answer: (A)

The fundamental rule here is that housing decisions can’t discriminate against people based on protected characteristics, such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability. You can use neutral, non-protected criteria to screen applicants, as long as you apply them consistently.

Denying a rental simply because someone is a social drinker falls outside those protected categories. It's not a protected characteristic, so this reason does not implicate anti-discrimination rules in the same way the others do.

By contrast, denying rent based on race is illegal because race is a protected characteristic. Denying a family with children is illegal due to protections around familial status. The credit history option relates to financial qualifications and is governed by different screening standards; while it’s used in practice, the question’s correct choice highlights that the quickest, most clear-permitted basis among the options is a non-protected characteristic like social drinking.