Equality and Human Rights Commission

In general, it is unlawful for anyone responsible for renting or managing a residential or commercial property to discriminate against you on the grounds of your gender, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief, or disability in:

• refusing to rent the property to you
• setting the terms of rental that they offer
• dealing with a list of people who need a particular type of property
• providing or refusing to provide you with access to benefits or facilities
• carrying out repairs or renovations, or
• evicting you or subjecting you to some other harm, such as harassment.

Where consent is needed for property to be let or sub-let, it is unlawful for a person whose consent is required to discriminate in withholding that consent.

If you feel that you are being treated unfairly in any of these areas, you have the right to make a legal challenge. Before doing this, you should consider seeing one of the following:

• a solicitor
• a legal advice centre
• a citizens’ advice bureau.

Example

A private landlord places an online advertisement for a ‘flat to let to Christian families only’. This could be discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief. Both the landlord and the person publishing the advertisement could be liable to legal action.

Example

A lettings agency dismisses a temporary worker who protested when a manager told staff not to show rental properties to customers from Eastern Europe, on the grounds that ‘they were all time-wasters’.

This unlawful instruction is direct racial discrimination against Eastern European customers. The dismissal happened because the temporary worker complained about the discrimination. This is unlawful victimisation of the temporary worker.

The lettings agency would be liable to legal action for racial discrimination and victimisation.