ADJ-00014852

ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00014852

Parties:

Complaint

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 04/10/2018

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Rosaleen Glackin

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 25 of the Equal Status Act, 2000, andfollowing the referral of the complaint to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.

Background.

The Complainant referred a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission on 3rd March 2018 alleging she had been discriminated against by the Respondent by reason of her Housing Assistance (HAP). The Complainant stated that she had served the ES1 Form on the Respondent on 6th March 2018, that is after she had lodged her complaint with the WRC.

Summary of Complainant’s Position.

The Complainant referred a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission on 3rd March 2018 in which she states that she is renting a studio since November 2017. She stated she had been placed on the Housing Assistance Payments Scheme but that she is not able to receive payments in order to pay rent because her named Landlord is rejecting it. He is refusing to sign the HAP Documents. The Complainant stated she has been in contact with the Landlord via email but he is refusing to accept HAP.

She stated she was served order of notice of termination on 8th April 2018.

Summary of Respondent’s Position.

The Respondent provided the following information to the Hearing following the conclusion of the Complainant’s evidence.

• A letter dated 20th April 2018 from Dublin City Council in which it states as follows – “To date your tenant has not submitted her part of the application therefore we cannot proceed.”
• A Letter dated 13th July 2018 being a Residential Tenancies Board Determination Order stating in summary that the Complainant should pay the sum of £2,200.00 being rent arrears and to pay any further rent outstanding from 30th April 2018.
• A further Residential Tenancies Board Determination Order of 16th August 2018 stating that the termination notice served by the Landlord on 8th April 2018 was valid and an order to vacate the dwelling within 14 days of the date of the Order and to pay the outstanding arrears to the Landlord.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS.

Section 6(1) of the Equal Status Act, 2000, as amended has to be read in conjunction with Section 3 of the Act which gives meaning to “discrimination” and defines the new “Housing assistance ground”.

Section 6(1)(c ) of the Act provides as follows – “For the purposes of Section 6(1)(c), the discriminatory grounds shall……..include the ground that as between any two persons that one is in receipt of rent supplement (within the meaning of Section 6(8), housing assistance (construed in accordance with Part 4 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2014) or any two payment under the Social Welfare Acts and the other is not (the housing assistance ground).”

Part 4 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2014 made legal provision for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Scheme. Section 35 provides for the interpretation of various terms as follows – “housing assistance” means the payment by a housing authority of rent for a dwelling to a landlord on behalf of a qualified household in accordance with this part”.

The Equal Status Act 2000 was amended with effect from 1st January 2016 such that discrimination in relation to “providing accommodation or any services or amenities related to accommodation or ceasing to provide accommodation or any such services or amenities “ is now prohibited under the new housing assistance ground which is set out above.

Section 38A of the Act - Burden of Proof – applies to all complaints of discrimination under the Equal Status Act and requires the Complainant to establish, in the first instance, facts from which the discrimination alleged may be inferred. It is only where such a prima facie case has been established that the onus shifts to the Respondent to rebut the inference of discrimination.

The evidence was that the Complainant had not submitted her part of the application for HAP and that therefore the Housing Authority – Dublin City Council could not proceed. This was confirmed by Dublin City Council in a letter to the Respondent – the named Landlord. Accordingly I find that the Complainant has not established a prima facie case of discrimination against the Respondent in circumstances in which Dublin City Council in a letter dated 20th April 2018 to the Respondent states clearly that the Complainant – the tenant – had not submitted her part of the application required for HAP and the Council stated that therefore they could not proceed.

Decision:

Section 25 of the Equal Status Acts, 2000 – 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under section 27 of that Act.

In accordance with Section 25 of the Act I declare this complaint is not well founded as the Complainant was not in receipt of the HAP payment as she had not submitted her part of the application.

Dated:   February 5th 2019

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Rosaleen Glackin

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