§ 9.08.080. Complaints.

A.

Any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice or who believes that he or she will be irrevocably injured by a discriminatory housing practice that is about to occur (hereafter referred to as "person aggrieved") may file a complaint with the administrator. Such complaints shall be in writing and shall identify the person alleged to have committed or alleged to be about to commit the discriminatory housing practice and shall set forth the particulars thereof. The administrator is directed to prepare and adopt from time to time standard complaint forms and to furnish them without charge to any person aggrieved. The administrator and employees of his or her office may assist in the clerical preparation of such complaints.

B.

The administrator shall receive and accept notification and referral of complaints from the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to the provisions of Title VIII—Fair Housing Act of 1963, Public Law 90-234, and shall treat such complaints in the same manner as complaints filed directly by the person aggrieved.

C.

If, in the course of any investigation as provided in Section 9.08.090 of this chapter on a complaint filed with or referred to the administrator, he or she shall receive credible evidence and shall have probable cause to believe that the person or persons named in such complaint have committed a discriminatory housing practice on grounds not stated in such complaint, the administrator may prepare and file a supplementary complaint upon his or her own motion and in his or her own name, and such supplementary complaint shall thereafter be treated in the same manner as an original complaint filed by a person aggrieved.

D.

If at any time the administrator shall receive or discover credible evidence and shall have probable cause to believe that any person or persons have committed a discriminatory housing practice as to which no complaint has been filed or is about to be filed, the administrator may prepare and file a complaint upon his or her own motion and in his or her own name, and such complaint shall thereafter be treated in the same manner as a complaint filed by a person aggrieved.

E.

A complaint under subsections A, C or D of this section must be sworn to before an officer authorized to administer oaths and must be filed within one hundred eighty (180) days after the alleged discriminatory housing practice occurred. Upon the filing or referral of a complaint, the administrator must forward a copy of the complaint to each person alleged in the complaint to have committed or participated in the discriminatory housing practice, each of whom is a "respondent." A respondent may file an answer to the complaint within fifteen (15) days after receiving it. The answer must be sworn to before an officer authorized to administer oaths. A complaint or answer may be amended upon leave of the administrator, which must be granted unless the amendment would unfairly prejudice or surprise the other party.

(Prior code § 15-22)