Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

 Complainant 

 Respondent

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 21 Equal Status Act, 2000

CA-00028696-001

27/05/2019

The Complainant is a tenant and the Respondent is the landlord.

This complaint was received by the Workplace Relations Commission on 27th May 2019.

The Complainant (the tenant) claims that the landlord was uncontactable by her from 2007 until 2018.

The Respondent made contact with the Complainant in or about October 2011 at a time where rent arrears situation had persisted for some time and the reason for this contact was to arrange fresh décor and flooring following pyrite remediation works. During this visit the rent situation was discussed. The Complainant contends that she was anxious to regularise matters and to avail of rent allowance / supplement entitlements to resume the rent payments to the Respondent.

The Respondent, in the opinion of the Complainant, appeared to be amenable to this and took the necessary paperwork but never executed same.

After this brief contact in 2011 it would appear that the next contact was in 2018. A meeting took place between the Complainant and the Respondents. This meeting became quite heated and the Respondent’s refused to sign the HAP papers.

The Respondent claims they were always contactable and the Complainant initially asked the Respondent to sign HAP papers in 2018 and that there had been no mention of HAP or rent allowances prior to this date.

The Respondents are quite sure that the first letter from any solicitor on this subject was received by them in February 2019.

The Respondents are owed a substantial amount of rent arrears and are adamant that the Complainant could easily have contacted them.

The Respondents claim that they are not legally obliged to sign any HAP forms presented to them by the Complainant.

The Equal Status Acts 2000 2015 make it unlawful to discriminate in the disposal of premises and the provision of accommodation on any of the nine grounds.

In addition, providers of accommodation services are prohibited from discriminating against someone on the ‘housing assistance ground’ i.e. on the grounds that they are in receipt of –

·         rent supplement

·         housing assistance payments

·         other social welfare payments.

The housing assistance ground protects anyone who has applied for and is eligible to receive such payments and applies both to existing tenants and to those who are looking for accommodation.

Discrimination on the housing assistance ground, or on any of the nine grounds, may also take the form of landlords or letting agents –

·         refusing to let you look at the property

·         refusing to rent the property to you

·         refusing to accept rent supplement or housing assistance payments

·         refusing to complete the necessary forms to enable the applicant to receive rent supplement or housing assistance payments

·         Including discriminatory terms or conditions in leases or other tenancy agreements, whether written down or spoken

·         Refusing to renew a lease or other tenancy agreement

·         Ending a lease or other tenancy agreement

·         Withdrawing services related to property or making it very hard to obtain such services.

At the hearing of this case the Respondent accepted that they had refused to sign the HAP application form. It was claimed that they (the landlords) were always contactable through the estate managers and that it would have been straightforward to do so. It was also stated that the Respondent did not receive any HAP forms to be completed until February 2019.

The only issue to be decided at the Adjudication hearing was the issue of the refusal to sign the HAP forms and did the refusal to sign said forms amount to discrimination?

I am satisfied that the Complainant was discriminated against and for the effects of this discrimination I order the Respondent to pay compensation of €2,000 to the Complainant.

As outlined above.

Housing Assistance Payments; Equal Status Acts 2000 – 2015.