If you're renting an apartment with children, you might wonder if a lease clause or house rule saying children can't run, make loud noises, or act rowdy in the hallways is legal. Depending on how the rule is worded, it may very well violate the Fair Housing Act's ban on familial status discrimination.
Rules that unnecessarily single out children run afoul of this law. So, the key is whether the rule applies to everyone or just attempts to single out children -- both on paper and in practice.
There's nothing wrong with a landlord trying to enforce safe behavior in the hallways or other common areas, since it benefits all tenants. If running is allowed, people can trip or hit others, leading to injuries. If yelling and other loud noises is permitted, tenants may complain that the sounds interferes with their "quiet enjoyment" of their apartment.
While it's fine for landlords to attempt to curb rowdy behavior, they need to write their rules in a way that doesn't ban the behavior only in children, and they must enforce the rules against children and adults alike.
Making such rules apply to everyone doesn't just avoid fair housing problems for landlords -- it also makes sense. Adults sometimes like to run and yell, too, and the effects can be at least as, if not more, disruptive.
