Disparate treatment can occur even if the appraiser is not motivated by malice.

• A. True, disparate treatment can occur without malice.
• B. False, it always requires malice.
• C. Disparate treatment cannot occur in appraisal.
• D. Disparate treatment is the same as discrimination in housing.

Answer: (A)

Disparate treatment focuses on whether protected characteristics were the reason for how a decision was made, not on whether the decision-maker intended to cause harm. In housing, you can run into discrimination even if the appraiser isn’t malicious. If the appraisal process uses criteria or patterns that yield different results for properties or buyers because of race, national origin, religion, sex, etc., that constitutes discriminatory treatment. The law looks at the effect and the factors used, not the appraiser’s mindset, so lack of malice does not shield a discriminatory outcome. For example, consistently valuing properties in a neighborhood with a certain protected characteristic at lower amounts, despite similar comparables, shows disparate treatment regardless of intent. That’s why this statement is true.