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(a) No lending institution doing business in this territory shall discriminate, on a basis that is arbitrary or unsupported by a reasonable analysis of the lending risks associated with a residential mortgage transaction, in the granting, withholding, extending, modifying or renewing, or in the fixing of the rates, terms, conditions or provisions of any residential mortgage loan or in any written application for a loan on residential real property to be occupied in whole or in part by the applicant and that is within the mortgagee’s service area on the basis that such property is located within a specific neighborhood or geographic area or that such loan would be secured by unimproved real estate.
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(b) It shall not be a violation of this section if the residential mortgage loan is made pursuant to a specific public or private program, the purpose of which is to increase the availability of mortgage loans within a specific neighborhood or geographic area.
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(c) A mortgagee shall inform each applicant in writing of the specific reasons for any adverse action on an application for a mortgage loan or for an extension, modification, or renewal of a loan. If the reason for any adverse action taken by a mortgagee is based in whole or in part on the location or unimprovement of the collateral property, the mortgagee shall inform the applicant in writing of the estimated market value of the subject property on which it relied and the lending standards which it used in taking such adverse action. A mortgagee shall not be liable to any seller or agent of the seller of such property on account of the disclosure of the market value of such property estimated according to a reasonable appraisal rendered to the lender as part of the application process.
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(d) For the purposes of this section, adverse action means refusal either to grant financing at the terms and for the amount requested or to make a counter offer acceptable to the applicant.
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(e) Any person claiming to have been aggrieved as a result of a violation of this section may bring a civil action in Superior Court. Upon finding that a lending institution has committed a violation of this section, the court may award actual damages or punitive damages in the amount of five thousand dollars whichever is greater, but in no event less than two thousand five hundred dollars, and may, in its discretion, award court costs and attorney’s fees.