I had to trawl through rented accommodation advertisements for the past week to get myself somewhere new to stay. A lot of places advertised for women only and after replying to one advert, the land lady refused me an appointment because I was male.
Is it legal to refuse someone accommodation like this? Its a bit annoying as the better accommodation seemed to be more likely to have a woman only policy.
Yes, it’s illegal, with certain exceptions if the owner or a relative lives on the premsis: http://www.eoc.org.uk/cseng/advice/accommodation_questions.asp
Wish I’d know that this past week! It annoys me that I had to settle for lesser accommodation, but then if I’d started looking earlier then I suppose I would have had time to sort this out legally.
If it’s any consolation (which it probably isn’t) I got refused a bedsit in Hampshire (UK) once - I would have been sharing a bathroom with men and the non live-in landlady felt this was inappropriate !
Never declare your desire to bathe with housemates, it always put people off!
:smack:
When I rented in London many years ago I was considered a prime tenant because I am an Aussie and therefore had fewer rights than an English tenant. When the landlord wanted to throw us out of our Notting Hill flat he was surprised to discover that I was travelling on my British passport because I was actually born in Yorkshire.
I don’t think my Dad had problems with this sort of stuff, from the tales I’ve heard his job in the bank (when being in his job required good references and so was more respectable than it is today) meant little old ladies dragged him in off the street to live with them as a lodger.
This must have been a long time ago for this to be the case! 