Before renting a home, many landlords may choose to put potential tenants through tenant screening. During this process, landlords determine if tenants are worthy based on information they provide. In itself, tenant screening is completely legal, but landlords exceed their legal rights if they use irrelevant characteristics of the individual, such as race, sex, religion, disability, religion, or age. Landlords who do are guilty of renting discrimination, which is illegal according to the fair housing act. Acts that constitute renting discrimination include refusing to rent, refusing to negotiate the agreement, providing substandard conditions, or otherwise harassing the tenant because of discriminatory reasons. If a landlord is found to have performed unlawful discrimination, a lawsuit may be filed, possibly resulting in legal ramifications of monetary damages and other civil penalties.