## Facts

- John Pasquince, a wheelchair user receiving SSD/SSI income and holding a Section 8 housing voucher, applied to rent a first-floor, wheelchair-accessible one-bedroom unit for $915 per month.
- Brighton Arms Apartments, a 428-unit complex, accepted Section 8 tenants and had multiple Section 8 residents at the time.
- Brighton Arms denied Pasquince’s application, citing his credit history and notifying him of his right to contact the consumer reporting agency.
- Pasquince’s credit report reflected prior rental problems, including an alleged failure to pay rent to a prior landlord.
- Brighton Arms maintained it rejected the application due to poor creditworthiness and concern about payment of the tenant’s portion of rent and compliance with other lease-related obligations not fully covered by the subsidy.
- Pasquince brought a summary proceeding alleging unlawful housing discrimination based on lawful source of rent payment under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD).

## Issues

1. Whether the LAD’s prohibition on discrimination based on a lawful source of rent payment (including Section 8) is violated when a landlord who accepts Section 8 tenants denies a voucher holder based on a neutral creditworthiness assessment.
2. Whether Pasquince proved that the stated reason (poor credit history) was a pretext for prohibited source-of-income discrimination.

## Decision

- The Appellate Division affirmed judgment for Brighton Arms.
- The court held the LAD does not bar landlords from evaluating a Section 8 applicant’s credit history using neutral criteria, so long as the decision is not based on Section 8 status itself.
- The court upheld the trial judge’s factual finding that the denial was based on poor credit history, not hostility to Section 8 recipients, and that Pasquince did not prove pretext.

## Legal Principles

- The LAD, N.J.S.A. 10:5-12(g)(4), prohibits refusing to rent because of a tenant’s lawful source of rent payment, including Section 8 assistance.
- The statute targets discrimination based on the source of payment, not all adverse decisions affecting Section 8 applicants.
- Landlords may apply legitimate, neutral screening standards, including creditworthiness and rental-payment history, to Section 8 applicants.
- A plaintiff alleging source-of-income discrimination must show that the landlord’s stated neutral reason is not the real reason and is instead a cover for prohibited discrimination.

## Conclusion

A landlord that accepts Section 8 tenants does not violate the LAD by denying a Section 8 applicant for documented poor credit history under neutral screening criteria, absent proof that the credit rationale was a pretext for discrimination based on the voucher as a lawful source of rent payment.


Pasquince v. Brighton Arms Apartments, 378 N.J. Super. 588, 876 A.2d 834 (App. Div. 2005)