Black couple says they were getting out of the car for a Queens apartment showing when the broker’s misdirected text arrived: ‘Ugh. They are Black’

Lisa Renee Olaso and her fiancée, Cyril Christopher, were hoping to find a new home when they arrived at a rental property on 26th Avenue in Flushing, Queens. Olaso had recently landed a new job and was preparing to move from Delaware. A real estate agent with Douglas Elliman was supposed to show the couple around the property.

But before they even got inside, Olaso says a text message from the agent changed everything: “Ugh. They are Black.” According to ABC7 New York, Olaso said she was accidentally included on the message, which was intended for the property owner.

Olaso and Christopher have since filed a housing discrimination lawsuit in state court against Douglas Elliman Realty, the broker, and several people listed as owners of the property. The incident happened in June. According to the couple, the broker never met them in person and instead watched them from a distance before the message arrived.

The couple says the broker blamed previous Black tenants

Olaso said she received the text as they were getting out of the car, and she immediately told Christopher to get back in. She then explained to the broker why. According to Olaso, the broker tried to explain the message by claiming that Black tenants who had previously lived in the neighborhood had “caused a lot of trouble.”

The couple declined to see the apartment after the exchange, according to the lawsuit, which alleges violations of the federal Fair Housing Act, Gothamist reported. Their attorney, Kenneth Mollins, has argued that the text did not happen in isolation and that the homeowner was in some way responsible.

In a statement provided Wednesday, Douglas Elliman said it has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination and that the agent is no longer with the company. A spokesperson for the firm also pushed back on the couple’s claims, calling them “predatory and baseless,” according to The Real Deal.

ABC7 said it left messages for the homeowners and the broker. The listed landlords did not answer a phone call or respond to a voicemail from Gothamist.

Christopher said the experience was painful, comparing it to judging a book by its cover without ever reading it. Olaso said the broker eventually apologized, but that the apology did not take away the pain of that day.

The allegations have not been tested in court

Searching for a rental has brought other New Yorkers and renters headaches online, including a Texas man who said he learned a TikTok rental listing was fraudulent after contacting the property manager. In that case, the company managing the home said it never advertised it on TikTok.

Rising costs have also strained relationships between tenants and landlords, including one renter whose landlord asked the whole building to stop taking long showers to keep housing affordable. Olaso and Christopher’s lawsuit will now move through state court, where the allegations against the broker, the firm, and the property owners have yet to be proven.