To be worried about this accusation of age discrimination?

[HeritageQuay]

So I rent out rooms in my house and because I am working a long way away I get a female friend to meet the applicants and show them around. We do our best to keep the property in a good condition and over the years we have developed a series of characteristics that we look for in prospective tenants. One of the criteria we have is that all the tenants have to be of similar ages. Ultimately it's a modern house and there is not much privacy.

I use SpareRoom and there is a section on their website for "New flatmate preferences" and I have put "Female, 21-30, professional, references required"

A lady messaged me last week wanting to view the room. Her profile said that she was a professional 30 year old and so I let her view the room, and my friend showed her round. Turned out she was 50. She said that she had made a mistake when registering on the website and did not know how to change her age. Otherwise she was perfect, and she wanted the room. However my friend was against letting her have the room because she was "too old".

Anyway I asked the existing tenants what they thought, and they politely said that they too thought this lady was too old. Specifically, they felt that the location of the empty room, opposite the downstairs toilet and next to the kitchen, would result in this lady making of lot of complaints about the noise in the house.

So I politely messaged the lady saying that the room was right by the kitchen and I was worried that she would find the house too noisy, and it was probably best that she looked somewhere else.

However, unbeknownst to me, the lady had also phoned my friend and my friend had straight out told her "Sorry, you are too old for the house!"

Now the lady is threatening to report me for age discrimination. My reply was, no, not at all, it is just that the other housemates did not think you would fit into the household. In any case, the advert specifically said ages 21-30. The lady is still not happy and is saying she will take this further.

I appreciate that there is a law against age discrimination but surely a landlord has to right to choose who he wants to let his property to?

Anyway, the reason for posting is, should I be worried about this, and what should I do differently in future to prevent this happening again?

YANBU- a household of under 30s is going to have a very different vibe to a household of over 50s. My eldest DD (early 20s) is in a house share in london and she and her house mates would be gutted if the landlord moved in a new tenant old enough to be their mother. No doubt this woman would end up complaining about noise/ conflicting lifestyles.

For the love of god! I have lodgers, I'm in my 50's I don't want to share with a couple of 20 year olds.

It's my house I chose who I want to share my personal space with.

Some people!

You and your friend are discriminating against her because of her age...

You are making a lot of assumptions about what a 50 year old would be like and how they would behave.

Your friend was very, very silly to tell her explicitly she was ''too old''.

In the end you have a right to choose whatever tenant you feel will fit in best with the existing ones, but you need to be smart and decent enough not to talk to people like that.

At least I hope you have learned your lesson and will treat people with a bit more respect.

However, unbeknownst to me, the lady had also phoned my friend and my friend had straight out told her "Sorry, you are too old for the house!"

Think I would find someone else to deal with the house viewings in future.

Ah well, now you know age isn't a protected characteristic for letting rooms. You can block this woman. Don't engage any further especially as she is erroneously making threats to sue you. You've had a lucky escape as she would have been a complainer.

I suggest you have a word with your friend doing your viewings, that she doesn't say a reason next time, she says the room isn't available or that they have been unsuccessful this time and ends the call.

It's odd how many people think it's disgraceful that OP allows her tenants to have an opinion based on age but don't bat an eye at OP allowing the tenants to have an opinion based on sex...

It changes the entire dynamic of a home to bring a new person into it - that's why tenants are permitted to choose whether they like a person. The fact this woman lied to try and get around this probably means she'll lie about other things to try and get her way too. So, aside from her age, she's probably not a great fit.

She can't report you to anyone for anything. Tenants are allowed to choose who they want new tenants to be. Discrimination for who you allow to live in your home with you is perfectly legal.

It's age discrimination but if it's a private house your friend can do what she likes. She advertised a specific age range and the older lady lied.

If you were letting a flat for her sole occupancy she'd have a point. For a shared house / flat it's a totally different thing.

Under the Equality act, 'Age' is a protected characteristic....

Poor woman!
She must be in a desperate situation to be looking for a spare room in a house share at 50 years old.
You’re being ageist and I think that’s really horrible.

Not for number of things. There are exeptions for few of the characteristics in certain situations

Are you sure about that? I am not convinced this is one of those scenarios as it is so blatant. Your friend literally said it is because of your age so not hard to prove that is what is going on. Why did she say anything!

Now you know age isn't a protected discrimination where letting is concerned you can ignore her threats. And tell your friend she needs to be more tactful in future.

Do you think we haven't heard of protected characteristics? This is Mumsnet!!!

Say for example you have a seven year old daughter who likes gymnastics. You enrol her in a gymnastics club. She is in a group for 7-9 year old girls. All is well.

Then along comes Ethan. He wants to be in the group for 7-9 year old girls with your daughter even though he's a 37 year old man.

The gymnastics club is entitled to say 'no Ethan, you can't be in this gymnastics group.' Even though age and sex are protected characteristics.

So the three things you know about this prospective tenant: 1) she lies (said she was 30 when she is 50) 2) she thinks your rules don't apply to her (comes to a viewing when she knows she does not meet your requirements) 3) she kicks up a fuss when caught out lying.
She doesn't exactly sound like a dream tenant!!

@Goldenbear

NoseyNellie has already posted links on this.

Horrible isn't it? The date she was born means she must automatically wants a very quiet house, will complain if she doesn't get it, and lacks the capacity to judge for herself whether the room location meets her needs. I wonder how all the casual agists will feel in a few years time when the younger generation pays it forward.

But from what op has said it doesn't appear they are 'lodgers' they are probably tenants and she is creating ASTs. The owner is 'working away'.

Ridiculous comments here. Of course people living in shared housing want to have general stage of life in common with a housemate

My babysitter is 23 she lives in a house share with other 23 year olds. My best friend is still single at 40 and house shares...with other people in late 30s early 40s !

Im in my early 40s and absolutely would not expect people in their 20s to want to house share with me.

I have a degree on human rights law ! This has nothing to do with discrimination.

When you share your living space you can be pretty picky about it

This!

Exactly.

@5128gap she's already said she's 'taking it further' ?

This works both ways. Some people don't want young lodgers because they are worried about noise and extra overnight guests. Housemates can reject an applicant if they don't think they will fit in with the house and I think this is fine. New people change the dynamic of the household so by and large it is better all round if the existing tenants actually want to live with the new one.

So are the brownies, scouts, primary schools toddler groups and so on infinitum also all guilty of this as well then?