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?

I think the crime she committed was to apply for a room which clearly stated 21-30 when she was 50. Doing this she showed scant regard for other people's boundaries, other people's time and the truth.

Then when she was told she hadn't been accepted because she didn't meet the criteria as specified in original advert (and she knew herself when applying), she went all legal on you. Making a drama out of nothing So. I think you dodged a bullet.

I don't think your friend is a nasty person. As a woman in my 50s, I think the applicant is the nasty person.

Your usual blundering nonsense I see. Absolutely clueless.

Neither you nor the woman are full wrong here, but also you both are wrong, and your friend is rude!
If the property is set up as a flatshare, the flatmates should be choosing their new flatmate - they should meet the candidates and the candidates should meet them. If it's not that shared set up, the existing flatmates opinions shouldn't matter.
A 20 year old could just as easily be annoyed by the toilet door and whatever other noise as a 50 year old. A 50 year old might turn out to be the quietest or most tolerant flatmate you can get. A 20 year old may turn out to be the noisiest and most disruptive to the others. If noise is the issue, you need to advertise it as noisy lively house, and let people apply based on that knowledge, not on age assumptions.
Your friend could have diplomatically said this woman wasn't the successful candidate and someone else had been chosen, there was no need at all to mention age.
You, your friend, and the existing flatmates are being incredibly judgey about age. Also gender. Female only? Seriously. And professional? Who are you to call what's professional, so long as they can pay the rent and bills.
Multi-age/generational households work really well. Plenty of homes have grandparents/adult parents/adult children for example.
Look up the TV series Five Bedroom on BBC iplayer, it's brilliant. It's about five people sharing a house, mixed age, mixed gender, mixed "professions" living together.

You think the best way to stop 50 year old men moving in is to ban 50 year olds? Do you think there might be another group you could ban to achieve the same?

So you think it's perfectly acceptable to discriminate based on sex? Don't you think that is rather hypocritical?

I don't think its acceptable to discriminate based on sex.
I do think its acceptable to stipulate a property is for women only.
Its perfectly possible to think both of those things at the same time without the slightest hypocrisy.

Very confused bt the questions but there is no stand alone ban in fifty years olds 😂

Or to put it another way...The concern was about opening the floodgates to 'dodgy old men' perving at young women. I'm just asking which of the two characteristics, taken by themselves, is likely to result in perving over young girls? Being born in 1972 or being a man?

Young women, that is.

perimenofertility Also gender. Female only? Seriously. And professional? Who are you to call what's professional, so long as they can pay the rent and bills.

Why on earth not? I had a manual worker man in his fifties try to bully me into letting him view my room for rent in my home. I screened him before deciding he wouldn't suitable. Why would I want to share with a much older man with whom I had nothing in common when I could share with someone that I'd get on with?

Anyway, its not illegal, probably because it would be a breach of your human right to privacy in your own home. Many, many people apply for properties and aren't successful. Most manage to cope with that without throwing a hissy fit threatening people with "reporting" them. Its just life. No one has a right to rent in anyone's home as a lodger. Shocked that you are questioning this.

Considering that the thread deals with one of the exceptions to the rule in the Equality Act, yes of course.

Thanks again for all the replies. I've spoken to my friend, she's agreed she could have been more diplomatic. We both consider that it is better to take the time to find the correct new tenant, and leave the room empty for a bit if necessary, rather than let someone into the house who could change the dynamic in what is usually a very friendly house. Conflict between tenants is never good and we believe it is better to prevent problems happening rather than try to deal with them later.

@HeritageQuay It sounds as though this is a HMO situation rather than excluded occupiers because your friend works away and is therefore living somewhere else. In which case an epc, electricity safety certificate, deposit protected in a scheme and gas safety certificate are a requirement before the commencement of a tenancy.

And the how to rent booklet!

OP said she rents out rooms in her house as she lives there but goes away for work sometimes
So her friend shows people around
So it wouldn't be a HMO situation and even if it was, age (discrimination) requirements are allowed

I'm not sure they are tenants but lodgers?

Actually all she says about where she lives is 'and because I am working a long way away' she doesn't say she lives there so I suspect she has an HMO with tenants on ASTs.