1-Harassment in Housing

Harassment in Housing

 

COVID-19 Fact Sheet-1 January 2021

 

If someone’s harassed you in housing

Harassment is where someone creates a atmosphere that makes you feel uncomfortable. This could be because you feel offended, intimidated or humiliated.

If you’re being harassed by someone like your landlord or an estate agent, it might be discrimination.

You might be able to take action to stop the harassment. You might also be able to get compensation.

The law that protects you from harassment in housing is under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010.

It might be harassment if someone’s:

  • verbally abused you
  • asked very personal questions, for example about your disability or religion
  • put up posters that make you feel uncomfortable
  • made rude physical gestures or facial expressions towards you
  • told you jokes of a sexual nature
  • made comments you find offensive, for example on social media

If the harassment is very serious, it might also be a crime. For example, it’s a crime if someone has sexually assaulted you or made physical threats.

If your harassment problem isn’t to do with your home or a home you’re trying to rent or buy, you should take action in a different way.

If you’re worried about your safety

Call the police on 999 for an emergency and 101 if it isn’t an emergency.

 

Check what’s harassment under discrimination law

For all types of harassment, the behaviour you’re complaining about has to be something you didn’t want. The law calls this ‘unwanted conduct’.

You also always need to show that the person who harassed you meant to make you feel a certain way, or that you felt that way even though it wasn’t their intention. This is called ‘purpose or effect’. If the person didn’t mean to make you feel this way, it also has to be ‘reasonable’ that you felt that way.

You need to show that the purpose or effect of the conduct was that it violated your dignity or created an environment that:

  • humiliates you
  • offends you
  • intimidates you
  • is hostile
  • is degrading

You also have to show that your situation is covered by one of the 3 types of harassment in discrimination law.

The first type is where the unwanted conduct related to a relevant ‘protected characteristic’ like sex or race.

The second type is where the unwanted conduct is of a sexual nature.

The third type is where you’re treated worse because of rejecting or submitting to unwanted sexual behaviour or behaviour related to gender reassignment or sex. This is called ‘being treated less favourably’.

It doesn’t matter if the behaviour is directed at you or not – for example, if you

Check who you can take action against

The Equality Act 2010 says you can take action against certain people. This includes your landlord – this might also be a tenant who’s subletting their property to you.

This might be companies or people who discriminate against you when they:

  • sell or rent out a home, such as renting through a letting agent – this is called ‘permission for disposal of premises’ in the law
  • need to agree to sell or rent out a home, such as a joint owner –  this is called ‘permission for disposal of premises’ in the law
  • manage a home, such as landlords, agents and people collecting rent – this is called ‘management of premises’ in the law

If an estate agent is acting on behalf of a landlord and they’ve discriminated against you, you might be able to take action against both of them. This will depend on what the landlord has allowed the estate agent to do.

For example, a landlord might have a defence if an estate agent acted against instructions to not harass people.

Who you can take action against in relation to selling, renting or management of premises is covered by sections 33 to 35 of the Equality Act 2010.

Part 4 of the Equality Act that covers housing doesn’t cover everywhere you might be living. It doesn’t cover places like hotels, holiday homes or prisons. If your problem is about any of these, find out if you can take action.

If your problem is with university housing, you’ll need to take action about discrimination in education.

Check if it’s criminal harassment

It could be criminal harassment as well as discrimination if your landlord tries to make your life difficult by doing things like:

  • interfering with or cutting off services such as water, gas or electricity
  • visiting your home regularly without warning, especially at night

Contact the housing department at your local council or the police – they can take action against your landlord.

You might also be able to claim compensation using a different harassment law called the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

You can get help from an adviser if you’re not sure what you should do.

If someone else is harassing you

If you’re being treated badly by other tenants or neighbours, you can complain about your neighbour.

You might be able to take action against service providers if you’ve been harassed by someone else who deals with your home, for example:

  • surveyors and valuers
  • solicitors
  • mortgage lenders

If you’re not protected by the Equality Act

If it’s not harassment under the Equality Act 2010, you can still complain about your private landlord or complain about social housing.

If you think you’re protected by the Equality Act

You can decide what to do about your housing discrimination problem.

2-Complaining About Your Landlord

Complaining about your landlord

 

COVID-19 Fact Sheet-2 January 2021

 

You can complain about your landlord if they’re doing something wrong or you’re unhappy with their behavior, for example if:

  • they aren’t doing repairs they’re responsible for 
  • they’re harassing you, for example by entering your home without your permission
  • they discriminate against you, for example by charging you a higher rent or deposit than other tenants because of your nationality, race, age or sex

It’s best to speak to your landlord first to solve your problem. If this doesn’t help there are other steps you can take to complain.

If you have an emergency situation for example, you’re being illegally evicted or threatened with violence you should call the police straightaway.

Don’t be afraid to make a complaint – you shouldn’t have to put up with a bad service. The law is there to help you.

Your landlord can’t just end your tenancy because you’ve made a complaint – but they might try, especially if you’ve got an assured shorthold tenancy. Talk to an adviser at your nearest Citizens Advice if you’re worried about being evicted for making a complaint.

Find out more about eviction.

Speak to your landlord

You can often get your problem solved quickly by speaking to your landlord first. Explain what you’re unhappy about and ask them to sort out the problem.

Take someone with you for support when you speak to your landlord if you feel it will help you. If you don’t want to speak to them face to face or on the phone you could email.

Before discussing the problem you should:

  • note down everything you want to say – you can refer to your notes during your conversation or put them in an email
  • Contact your nearest Citizens Advice to discuss the situation – they can check your legal rights and help you speak to your landlord 

You can find your landlord’s name and contact details (including their address) on your tenancy agreement or your rent book. Ask your landlord or their agent for example, a family member that manages the property for the details if you can’t find them. They have to give them to you.

Contact your nearest Citizens Advice for help if you can’t get your landlord’s contact details.

 

If speaking to your landlord doesn’t help 

There are steps you can take to complain if your problem isn’t solved by speaking to or emailing your landlord.

Step 1: make a formal complaint  

You can make a formal complaint by writing a letter to your landlord.

Explain your problem and what you want them to do to solve it. Tell them what rights you have and what you think they should have done.

Talk to an adviser at your nearest Citizens Advice to find out what rights you have. For example they can tell you if your landlord has do certain repairs or help you check if you’ve been discriminated against.

Make sure your complaint letter is clear and includes evidence.

You should include in your letter:

  • what you’re complaining about
  • what you want them to do about the problem
  • dates and times the problem took place
  • details of any conversations with your landlord and what they agreed to do
  • copies of any letters or emails between you and your landlord
  • photographs – for example showing damage or disrepair, particularly if the problem gets worse over time
  • receipts for things you’ve had to pay for because of the problem – for example laundry bills if your washing machine broke down  
  • a note from your doctor (if possible) – if the problem has affected your health or safety

Step 2: complain to your local council

If making a formal complaint to your landlord doesn’t solve your problem you might be able to complain to your local council.

Your local council can only help with complaints about:

  •  repairs that cause a risk to your health and safety not being done  (e.g faulty electrical wiring not being fixed)
  • illegal eviction
  • harassment

dishonest or unfair trading behavior

3-Complaining about Housing Discrimination

Complaining about housing discrimination

 

COVID-19 Fact Sheet-3 January 2021

 

You’ll need to check a few things before you can take action about housing discrimination.

You’ll need to:

  • make sure it’s discrimination under the Equality Act 2010
  • check it’s harassment under the Equality Act if you’re being harassed
  • check that complaining is the best option – this includes finding out how secure your tenancy is if you’re renting
  • gather evidence before you start your complaint
  • find contact details for the person or organisation you want to complain to – details might be on their website or your tenancy agreement

You can complain directly to whoever’s discriminating against you. If that doesn’t solve the problem, you can ask another organisation or person to help, or it might be best to take legal action.

 

Deciding how to complain

It’s often a good idea to complain informally first, and then make a formal complaint if that doesn’t work. In some cases, though, it might be better to go straight to making a formal complaint.

To decide whether to make a formal or informal complaint first, you should think about:

  • who you’re complaining about
  • what rights you have to stay in your home and the risk of being evicted for making the complaint
  • whether there is a formal complaints procedure
  • your ongoing relationship with the person you’re complaining about, for example if they’re your landlord
  • if you’re near the deadline for taking legal action
  • whether you’ve mentioned the problem before

 

Making an informal complaint

Contact whoever is discriminating against you and tell them you want to complain – you’ll need to do this even if you’ve been in touch with them about the problem, for example to ask for reasonable adjustments.

If you’re worried, you can get help with making your complaint.

You can get someone to complain on your behalf if you don’t feel confident, but they’ll need to show you’ve given them permission to do this.

 

Complaining in writing

You could write a letter or email if:

  • you’ve already spoken to the landlord, property manager or controller but it didn’t solve the problem
  • you think your complaint will be taken more seriously if it’s in writing
  • you’re complaining to a large organisation which is used to dealing with written complaints – like a local council

Keep a copy of what you sent them. If you send a letter, ask the Post Office for proof of postage – you might need to show when you sent your complaint.

 

If a landlord or letting agent won’t accept you because you’re on benefits 

If a landlord or letting agent has their own rule of not renting to people who get benefits, this could be discrimination under the Equality Act. You might see this written on property adverts as ‘no DSS’, ‘no benefits’ or ‘no Universal Credit’.

Write to the landlord or letting agent asking them to change their mind. You can use a template letter on the Shelter website. You could still be turned down if you can’t afford the property, so make sure you can afford it before you write.

If the landlord or letting agent doesn’t change their mind or they don’t reply within 7 days, talk to an adviser.

 

Complaining in person or on the phone

It might be worth doing this if you have a good relationship with the person you’re complaining to or if you’re worried about being evicted.

Write notes afterwards – these will be useful if you need to take things further. Include the date and the name of the person you spoke to.

You should follow up in writing if you don’t get a reply within a reasonable time – like 14 days.

 

What to say when you complain

When you complain you should:

  • describe what happened to you
  • say if anyone else witnessed what happened
  • explain how the situation has affected you
  • describe what you want to happen

If you’re complaining in writing, say when you want a reply – 14 days is a reasonable amount of time.

Include any extra details you have and send copies of evidence you’ve collected.

You don’t have to use legal language, it might help if you think it will encourage the person to reply to you.

If you do want to use legal language, you could:

 

If you’re complaining to a local council or housing association

There are extra duties for local councils and most housing associations about discrimination and human rights. If they don’t meet these duties, you can make extra arguments when you complain about discrimination.

The extra arguments include using the ‘Public Sector Equality Duty’ and also ‘public law’. Public law is your right to complain against a public or government organisation when they’ve done something they shouldn’t have or failed to do something they should have done.

Find out more about the extra duties and check if your council or housing association has to meet them.

When you complain, you’ll need to describe the problem and say why you think it’s discrimination. You should also say why you think the council or housing association hasn’t met any extra duties they have.

Referring to the extra duties might make your complaint stronger. You can also ask them to explain how they’ve met these extra duties – this is a good way for you to gather extra evidence you may need later on.

Include any extra details you have and send copies of evidence you’ve collected.

 

Dealing with a reply to your informal complaint

Keep a copy of any replies you get even if you’re happy with the answer. You should also keep any notes you’ve made if you complained in person or on the phone.

If you disagree with the reply you can take your complaint further.

 

If they’ve given a reason for their actions

If you think it’s indirect discrimination or discrimination arising from a disability, it won’t be against the law if they can show they have a good enough reason for it. You can check the types of discrimination if you’re not sure.

To have a good reason, they have to be able to show that the way you were treated is a ‘proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim’. There are 2 parts to showing this.

Firstly, they have to show the aim is legitimate. A legitimate aim could be:

  • the health and safety of other people
  • making sure their business can run properly
  • making sure neighbours aren’t disturbed too much

Secondly, their behaviour has to be proportionate – this means they can’t discriminate any more than they need to. If there are better and fairer ways of doing things, it will be more difficult to justify discrimination.

Your argument will be stronger if you can think of a way of meeting the legitimate aim that discriminates against you less.

If you’re not sure whether the behaviour is proportionate you should think about:

  • how many people with your protected characteristic would be affected – a high number makes it harder to justify their actions
  • how badly people are affected – for example, evicting someone will be harder to justify than causing them a small inconvenience

If you’re not sure if the discrimination is justified, get help from an adviser.

If you think they could meet their aims in a way that is less discriminatory, you could reply and suggest the different way.

 

Making a formal complaint

If you made an informal complaint and your problem still isn’t solved, you could make a formal complaint or take further action instead.

You can make a formal complaint straight away even if you haven’t made an informal complaint first.

Start by checking if whoever is discriminating against you has a complaints procedure. This might be on their website or you might have to ask for it.

Make sure you follow the complaints procedure, for example you might have to call a customer service phone number or fill in an online form.

If they don’t have a complaints procedure, for example if it’s a private landlord, write them a letter or email. If you’ve done this already as part of your informal complaint, it’s OK to do it again – you’ll need to write that it’s a formal complaint.

If you’re writing to an organisation, address it to the complaints team or the manager.

If you’re worried about making a formal complaint you can get help from an adviser.

 

What to say in your complaint

You should:

  • write that you’re making a formal complaint (mention the complaints procedure if there is one)
  • describe the problem and what you want to happen
  • explain the problem is discrimination under part 4 of the Equality Act 2010 – and give the type of discrimination, for example direct or indirect
  • give details of any complaints you’ve already made and say you’re unhappy with the way they were handled – give dates and how you contacted them
  • give the same information as any previous complaints and details of anything new that’s happened
  • explain when you want a reply – if there’s a complaints procedure it might say how long replies will take

Keep a copy of the complaint you’ve sent. For example If you filled in a form you could take a photo of the screen. Or you can save the page as a screenshot or a file on your computer. This will help later if you need to prove you complained.

You should also keep any emails or letters you get saying your complaint has been received.

 

If your informal or formal complaint hasn’t solved the problem

If you haven’t received a reply or your problem still isn’t solved, you could send a further letter to ask for a response. If this doesn’t solve the problem, you can take your complaint further.

 

Reporting the discrimination to an ombudsman or another organisation

You might be able to report the problem to an ombudsman or member organisation. These are organisations that will examine the case from both sides to reach a decision they think is fair

4-Chalenging your Housing Eviction

Challenging your eviction if you’ve been discriminated against

 

COVID-19 Fact Sheet-4 January 2021

 

Before you take any action you need to make sure your discrimination problem is covered by the Equality Act.

You might be able to stop your eviction if:

  • your landlord is evicting you because of a protected characteristic (direct discrimination)
  • your landlord’s eviction process puts you and people with your protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage (indirect discrimination)
  • the reason for the eviction is because of something connected to your disability (discrimination arising from a disability)
  • the reason you’re being evicted is connected with your landlord’s failure to make a reasonable adjustment – for example they refused to make an adjustment to the way you pay your rent and because of that you got into rent arrears
  • your landlord is evicting you because you challenged discrimination before, including asking for reasonable adjustments (victimisation) – check what counts as victimisation

You might also able to stop your eviction if you’re being evicted because you owe rent, but your landlord has also discriminated against you. You could tell the court about the discrimination and ask that any compensation you get goes towards the rent you owe – this is called a ‘counterclaim’.

The legal name for stopping an eviction is ’defending a possession claim’. 

The law that protects you against eviction because of discrimination from landlords or property managers is in section 35 of the Equality Act 2010.

To defend the claim you’ll need to be able to show what happened and that it was discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. You might also need to show why the landlord’s decision to evict you and anything else they do involved in trying to evict you is discrimination. You’ll have to give this evidence to the court later.

Evidence could be things like letters from a doctor showing you have a protected characteristic, social media messages or witnesses who saw what happened.

If you haven’t got an eviction notice yet

Think carefully about how you talk to your landlord and other tenants about the discrimination. Your landlord might react badly if you threaten to take them to court and they could try to take action against you more quickly. If you’re calm and polite you’re likely to get better results.

As well as arguing you’ve been discriminated against, you might also be able challenge the eviction for other reasons. For example, your landlord might not have used the right process to start the eviction.

Check if you can challenge the eviction in other ways

There are other defences under housing law that everyone can use, whether they have been discriminated against or not. For example, that the landlord didn’t use the correct procedure to evict you or in some cases if the action they’re taking is unreasonable. You can then add your discrimination arguments to these.

You first need to check the rules on eviction that apply to your type of tenancy and how your landlord is trying to evict you.

If you live in a council or housing association home you need to check your eviction notice is valid and check other ways to challenge your eviction.

If you live in a private rented home, the first thing you should do is:

If you have a different type of eviction notice you might still be able to use discrimination to try to defend it, but you should get help from an adviser.

Even if you don’t have a defence using other housing laws you might be able to defend your eviction using discrimination law. For example you might be able to defend your eviction if you’re:

  • an assured shorthold tenant and your landlord has used a section 21 notice
  • a secure or assured tenant and your landlord has used ‘mandatory possession grounds’
  • a starter tenant with a housing association
  • an introductory tenant
  • a demoted tenant
  • sub-letting your home

Building your discrimination argument

Your argument depends on the type of discrimination. It might count as more than one type – for example it could be both ‘direct discrimination’ and ‘discrimination arising from a disability’.

If it was more than one type of discrimination you’ll need to include them all. Sometimes you’ll be able to use the same evidence to show the different types of discrimination. For example, you might be able to use the same facts and evidence to show a claim of discrimination arising from disability as well as a failure to make reasonable adjustments.  

You should mention all the types of discrimination you’ve faced when you challenge your eviction, but for some situations there are specific tactics you can use. Check the tactics that apply to you.

If you’re not making a counterclaim

You might be able to get compensation for any discrimination you’ve experienced from your landlord. You’ll need to treat this separately to your eviction – you can read more about deciding what to do about housing discrimination.

5-Challenging an Eviction with Discrimination Law

Challenging an eviction with discrimination law

 

COVID-19 Fact Sheet-5 January 2021

 

The first thing you need to do is make sure your discrimination problem is covered by the Equality Act.

You’ll then need to decide the best way to use the law to challenge the eviction and gather evidence to help you make your case.

You can still try to resolve the problem informally even when your landlord’s started the eviction process – you might be able to get a solution before your case goes to court.

 

Check how strong your case is

You should assess how strong your case is and reconsider this when you get any evidence from the other side.

You should make sure that you:

  1. have identified your legal rights
  2. have shown how those legal rights have been breached
  3. know the elements that must be established to prove you’ve got a legal right – this is different for each type of discrimination so check if you’re not sure

You should write down the different elements of the case and add the facts that you have to support them. You can then write down whether you have any evidence to support those facts – like an email saying why you’re being evicted.

Doing this will also to help you work out what extra evidence you might need to get to be able to prove your case and identify any gaps or weaknesses in your case.   

 

If you’re claiming more than one type of discrimination

You’ll need to do this for each one. Sometimes you’ll be able to use the same evidence to show the different types of discrimination.  For example, you might be able to use the same facts and evidence to show a claim of discrimination arising from disability as well as a failure to make reasonable adjustments. 

 

Check if there’s any defence to the discrimination

Once you’ve matched the evidence you have to the elements of each type of discrimination, you should think about whether your landlord, property manager or controller will try to defend the case even if you can prove that the discrimination happened.

For indirect discrimination and discrimination arising from disability they could say that the action is justified as it is a ‘proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim’. Indirect discrimination is covered in section 19 of the Equality Act 2010 and discrimination arising from disability is covered in section 15 of the Equality Act 2010.

For reasonable adjustments they could say it’s not ‘reasonable’ or that they don’t have to make the adjustments you’ve asked for. Reasonable adjustments are covered by sections 20, 36 and Schedule 4 of the Equality Act 2010.

You should think about anything that will weaken their argument, for example if there’s a less discriminatory way to achieve their aim or if their reasons have been inconsistent so don’t seem credible.

If you identify gaps in your evidence or you think having looked at your evidence and that of your landlord, property manager or controller that they have a stronger case you might decide to gather some more evidence and then reassess your case.

 

Check how strong your evidence is

You don’t always need to have lots of evidence to have a strong case – it’s usually more important that the evidence is of a good quality.

Strong evidence could include evidence that is:

  • from someone who witnessed the discriminatory incident
  • from someone who isn’t linked to either party
  • factual
  • put together at the time or soon after the incident

Be careful about making claims or relying on incidents you don’t have evidence to support. There’s a risk you might have to cover some or all of the other side’s costs if you’ve wasted court time because your claim wasn’t very strong or was bound to fail. There is also risk that it could distract the court’s attention from your stronger arguments. Get help from an adviser if you need help to do this. 

 

Check the court rules you have to follow

If you go to court to defend your eviction, you’ll be expected to follow the rules on court action. These rules include:

  • the Civil Procedure Rules
  • the Practice Direction – Proceedings under Enactments Relating to Equality

If you or the other side – you’re called ‘the parties’ – don’t follow these rules, the court will take this into account when it makes its decision. If you haven’t done what you’re supposed to, you might find that:

  • your case won’t be heard
  • you might not be allowed to rely on certain evidence or arguments
  • you might be ordered to pay the other side’s legal costs if you lose or run up legal costs unnecessarily by being unreasonable
  • you might not recover your costs against the other side if you win the case if you run up legal costs unnecessarily by being unreasonable

 

The Civil Procedure Rules

The court’s main aim is to make sure that each case is dealt with fairly. If you decide that you want to take someone to court, the court will expect both parties to co-operate with each other as far as possible.

The Civil Procedure Rules are there to make sure that:

  • the parties are on an equal footing
  • the parties have tried to use other methods of sorting out the problem – like alternative dispute resolution
  • the parties try to save costs where possible
  • the way the case is dealt with reflects how much money is involved, how important or complicated the problem is and the financial position of the parties
  • the case is dealt with quickly, efficiently and fairly – the legal term for this is ‘expeditiously and fairly’

 

Defend the eviction

There are a few steps in the process. You’ll need to:

  1. take action when you get an eviction notice
  2. write down why you’re challenging the eviction  
  3. send your defence to the court
  4. prepare for the review date and court hearing

go to a court hearing

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