Fair housing on TakeOver
What we match on, what we will not match on, and what to do if a listing or a message crosses the line.
Housing discrimination is illegal, and a marketplace that quietly sorts people is doing it whether or not anybody meant to. This page says how TakeOver is built so you can hold us to it.
What we match on
Every ranking, alert and suggestion in the product reads a closed set of facts. All of them are facts about a property or a date:
- Where the place is, by campus and neighborhood
- When it is available and when the lease ends
- How long is left on the term
- The rent, and whether it is per bed or for the whole unit
- The unit type: a whole place, or a room in a shared one
What we will not match on
Nothing we rank by describes a person. We do not collect, infer or sort on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, familial status, disability, age, source of income or immigration status. We do not sort on your name, your photo or the sound of your voice.
Why you can tell us why you are moving
The interest you send carries your reason: a transfer, an internship, a study-abroad term. That is context for the person reading it, and it is deliberately kept out of matching. It never changes what you are shown or where you appear in anybody’s list.
What listers may write
A listing describes a place, not the person you want in it. Anything that states or implies a preference about who may apply is not allowed, however it is phrased.
- No "students only", "girls only", "no kids", "professionals preferred" or similar
- No describing the neighborhood in terms of who lives there
- Roommate facts are about the unit: how many people live there, and that they know the takeover is happening
- Requirements a leasing office actually applies, like an income multiple, belong in the terms and should be stated as the office’s, not yours
The leasing office decides, not us
TakeOver introduces two students. Every application, credit check and approval is run by the apartment complex under their own criteria, and we never contact them on your behalf. That means we cannot approve you and cannot overrule them, and neither can the person handing the lease over.
If you see something
Report the listing or the message. Reports go to a person, not a filter, and you do not need to be certain before you send one. If you believe you have been discriminated against you can also file with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, whatever we do about it.