The Trump administration has rescinded an Obama-era policy that allowed third parties to file accessibility-related complaints over original building design flaws indefinitely. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in conjunction with the Department of Justice, ended the mandate, which the administration contends drove up property costs and limited the supply of affordable housing.
Under the previous policy, building owners could be held liable for millions of dollars for accessibility retrofits years after a project was completed, even if they were not the original builders. HUD data indicated that property owners spent over $112 million on accessibility retrofits in the last five years solely to qualify for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) refinancing. HUD stated these costs directly curtailed the supply of affordable housing.
The rescinded rule eliminates the indefinite liability for current property owners concerning architectural deviations made by original builders decades prior. The updated enforcement framework establishes a strict deadline for filing Fair Housing Act design and construction challenges. Complaints must now be filed directly with HUD within one year of a building receiving its official certificate of occupancy. For private civil lawsuits in federal court, the statute of limitations is capped at two years from the completion of construction.
Once these periods expire, property owners are shielded from retroactive, building-wide liability for original architectural flaws. Individual tenants, however, retain the right to seek reasonable modifications for their specific housing needs at any time under existing Fair Housing Act protections.
According to HUD, the Obama-era regulation expanded the scope of the Fair Housing Act by imposing strict liability against builders in perpetuity for deviations from HUD’s accessibility guidelines at the point of initial construction. The agency argued this interpretation was "egregiously wrong," exceeded statutory authority, failed to increase accessible housing, and placed an "unwarranted and unduly prejudicial burden on American homebuilders."
Internal HUD data and industry reports suggest the financial impact of the prior policy was significant. One third-party housing inspection firm identified nearly $49 million in required accessibility fixes across almost 500 refinance deals since 2019, averaging over $100,000 in deficiencies per property. Industry insiders and lenders also reported that the previous rules hampered financing. One major affordable multifamily lender attributed more than $1 billion in lost HUD-insured loan volume over the past four years to the guidance, citing deal dropouts and discouraged borrowers due to uncertainty.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner stated that "unnecessary government policies have contributed to the skyrocketing cost of building, buying, and renting a home." He added that the action rescinds "unnecessary and expensive liability created by legal theories that have no basis in law," and that the Trump Administration is adhering to the law as written by Congress and interpreted by the courts.
The administration's move aligns federal enforcement with appellate court rulings, including a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which held that the illegal act of failing to properly design a building concludes upon completion and the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig Trainor emphasized that Congress included a clear statute of limitations in the Fair Housing Act, and the Obama-era guidance should not be disregarded.
National Association of Home Builders CEO Jim Tobin has stated that government regulations account for nearly a quarter of the cost of a typical single-family home, adding thousands to prices. This decision is part of broader efforts by the administration to address housing affordability concerns.