Not allowed to view a property based on race / nationality

[Oysterbabe]

A family I know are looking for a property to rent. They are Vietnamese and own a nail bar. They have been told by the agent today that they are not allowed to view a property they are interested in because the landlord does not want to rent it to someone who is Vietnamese. The agent also mentioned that they have had issues with people with nail bars subletting to their family.

Can they do this? It seems incredibly unfair. This is a lovely family who work hard and run a successful business, nothing shady about them at all. It just seems incredibly unfair that they can write them off without knowing anything about them based mostly on their race, I strongly suspect if it was British family who run a nail bar it wouldn't be an issue.

Not RTFT but I’ll just leave this here Fergus wilson it is a daily fail link however it was in the Kent’s local paper first and was completely genuine

Mr Wilson said: 'We have said nothing against lesbians and homosexuals or coloureds. As long as they can pay the rent'

Yes they were told through the agent the reason they weren't allowed to view the property but I'd have thought that an agent would know the law on unlawful discrimination and made up some bullshit excuse rather than just relay what he said.

I work for a large estate agents in the North West. This is illegal - not only could the landlord get fined but also the estate agent! The agents may get told they don't want this that or the other but they cannot discrimanate which this is a clear case of. Would love to know which agents told them it was because they were Vietnamese 😱

I would not rent again to anyone from overseas without a cast iron UK based guarantor. It is very difficult to credit check people who are not long term UK residents. And if they do default on the rent it is impossible to chase them up and get the monies owed.
I would also no longer rent to visa narionals as the government have placed landlords in the impossible position of having to check documents, visas, right to remain etc - the job of an immigration officer - and face fines/imprisonment if they get it wrong.

I am kind of staggered by how many posters are claiming it's OK. It's absolutely racist, and completely illegal. You can't refuse to rent to someone because they are Vietnamese.

But surely a landlord doesn't have to rent his flat to anyone? Is there a law that says the first person who comes along gets it?

So if you didn't really want children living in your city apartment- can you say no children? Why is that not discrimination against children and people with children?

Or no singles? I've seen that- surely discrimination against people without a partner?

As someone of a cross cultural background who had to rent accommodation for my family when they were studying in the Uk I believe you.

Its amazing what became available when I resorted to my maiden name.

Why cant landlords rent their properties to whoever they like?

Cubtrouble - race is a protected characteristic. It is currently not a criminal offence to ban any group of people from renting a property you own in the UK, but racial discrimination by landlords is against civil law, so a tenant or a tenants' rights group could take a landlord to court. It's why you don't see "no blacks, no Irish" adverts any more.

Cub you can discriminate on whatever random criteria you want except that there is a definitive list of "protected characteristics" which it's illegal to discriminate on. So poor people, parents, ugly people, pet owners, people who play guitar all fine to discriminate against (except where ugliness due to disability or is actually defined by covert racism). But you cannot discriminate on grounds of race or sex or age or disability unless you have a solid legal exemption.

That's pretty awful. However, there are some houses in Cornwall you can't buy unless you're Cornish. Cornwall is in England last time I checked.

Why cant landlords rent their properties to whoever they like? confused

ok dear, we've noticed you.

It's illegal as fuck. This is most likely the LL's reasoning, unfortunately

Is it in Kent?

Wedding's CAB link is eye-opening about the kinds of discrimination against protected characteristics that is actually completely legal in certain housing situations - I'm shocked

I've previously been discriminated against on grounds of religion - I had assumed it was illegal, but that the LL was a cunt from whom I wouldn't wish to rent if he had such an issue with Anglicans: but according to that link, he was well within his rights - truly you learn a new thing every day!

As said above it is certain types of discrimination which are illegal. You can obviously refuse to let to someone who does not meet someone who fails the Governmenti mposed new extreme onerous requirements put on landloards to vet rights to remain etc of tenants and you can refuse to let to people without long enough accounts, guarantors, high enough taxed income, with children, dogs or who are smokers etc.

We have all read about the recent Vietnamese nail bar scandals and slaves so it certainly is a massive red flag. In fact the Government is telling everyone to look at the people in their nail bar to check things like do they have changes of clothes or always in the same ones and others things to check so you can report any possible slavery that you see in there.

to look at the people in their nail bar to check things like do they have changes of clothes or always in the same ones and others things to check so you can report any possible slavery that you see in there. Now even discounting that the Home Office has become increasingly racist and out to create a "hostile environment" for anyone living here who was not born in the UK or wanting to come here from overseas I was a bit about this. And to be clear that amounts to my knowledge of; all those "unfortunate errors" resulting in telling people here quite legally they have to leave, not even allowing asian, including Vietnamese, spouses of British citizens an extended tourist visa to meet family even if they have a professional career in their home country because they are assumed to be at risk of overstaying (you can throw in a degree of misogyny there too), effectively exiling many British citizens who fall in love with someone from overseas even if their spouses would be an asset to this country, illegally deporting 48000 overseas student on the basis of a supposedly fraudulent language test which it turned out was nothing of the sort. The latter included sending in immigration vans to an International Student House in Regents Park where students at some of Britains most prestigious universities were gathered for a cinema night, and then arresting, deporting and in some cases detaining them in the notorious detention centres like Yardley Wood. Clever bit of shooting in the foot since who would want to study here, and contribute to the economy after reading all the stories in the overseas press.

So I am not predisposed to think the best of the UK government when it comes to not discriminating but I googled the above quote and it came up with some quotes from "The Wire". Welcome to the land of fake news.....

A question... Just because an employer who is from a particular country runs a nail bar. Why does the employer only employ those from that particular country.

Why do Iranian students get priority

Do you have any evidence for your claim that Iranian students get priority or are you just racist?

Oliversmumsarmy Question, what are you talking about?

Nail bars do not employ only people from a certain country. More fake news.

Iranian students go through exactly the same immigration processes as other overseas students who are all feeling increasingly that the UK does not welcome them. More fake news. As a result the number of students applying has declined. In the case of India (which used to be our biggest market for universities recruiting overseas students) there are 50% fewer students applying to come here. That is a reduction in the number of students paying fees which help support our universities to be amongst the best in the world, contribute to local economies, according to a report suppressed by May are not a risk of overstaying, help us to recruit the brightest and the best for our businesses and other organisations and a source of soft power, favouring our interests in their home countries. Other countries including the USA and Australia are very happy to exploit our idiocy and recruit those students no longer coming here.......

what someone being wrong on the internet isn't fake news.
This really isn't complicated.
It's illegal to say they won't rent to someone because they're Vietnamese.
It's not illegal to say they won't rent to someone because they're Vietnamese and their visas don't meet the new strict guidelines that LLs have to adhere to.
It's illegal to say they won't rent to someone who owns a nailbar.
It's not illegal to say they won't rent to you because you own a nailbar, are self-employed and don't have a long enough financial record.
The OP is working on hearsay which means the naunces might have been lost. And it's the naunces that make the difference to whether it's discrimination or not.

Gwen I agree on the discrimination issue as I posted upthread. The Landlord is only behaving legally if the Vietnamese family actually do not have the correct papers or are running a business that actually does break the law, or provides insufficient guarantee of income. There is no evidence that they are so refusing to let them see the property without proof that there is a legitimate reason not to rent to them is discriminatory and illegal. I am just shocked that there seem to be so many people on here that do not realise that as a country we have moved beyond the time when Landlords could put up signs that read "No blacks and no Irish" and with good reason and all the better for our society.

However when people start to come out with rubbish such as claiming Iranian students get priority when in fact they apply through the exact same processes as all overseas students to come here and be of value to our society and economy then that is fake news designed to exploit xenophobia and stir up racism.

Now even discounting that the Home Office has become increasingly racist

Take it from my DF, it was the same in the 1960s ...

About 22 years ago my friends mum was selling a house, she told the agent she did not want to sell it to 'tinted people', I was shocked. I was 18 at the time, and she was quite a formidable lady, and felt I could not say anything at the time.