In the US this looks like a clear case of housing discrimination and has pretty gnarly consequences. In the UK, it seems the landlords can be right bastards that operate with impunity.
Fuck those people. And fuck whoever downvoted this.
Wonder how to stop it. It’s already illegal but there’s plausible deniability especially on a site like spare room, less so for a formal letting.
I’d show up to the viewing just to make him feel awkward tbh
I remember doing this 8 years ago and getting the same result.
Somethings don’t change
Some first gen immigrants will not rent to black people and there’s nothing to be done because anti discrimination laws somehow doesn’t apply to them.
It happened to me with an Indian immigrant, he wouldn’t rent me a room unless I stopped eating meat or some bullshit, told him I’ll happily become a vegetarian but I’d need to live rent free.
I remember someone asking for my face pic before I came to see their houseshare…
I hated the idea of being judged beforehand purely by my looks. The same person then told me the room was gone moments before I arrived at their place, having travelled across London to get there.
OP, that’s a horrible experience for you, the market is incredibly competitive for anyone but sounds impossible with that kind of prejudice.
Wow so were also importing racists….
All these little experiences/disadvantages whilst navigating life, add up, too. Horrible reality.
Smh you don’t wanna put money into someone like that’s pocket anyway 😔
Such bullshit
It’s unfortunately not surprising, despite this city’s diversity, there are still **a lot** of people here who seem to dislike existing around anyone who isn’t white. If you’re brown or black and you’re in a shop that’s aimed at wealthier customers, the staff treat you rudely and basically harass you until you leave the store. It’s pushed me away from buying some smaller, local brands.
Try it with the sexy girl profile… they’ll be paying you to live there.
Lucky you.. Sure you wanted to rent a room from an Albanian?.. ;))
there you go, stereotyping isn’t always a bad thing.
I’ve reported racist landlords on here before, but they don’t seem to do much.
That is illegal. I know your immediate concern is finding a home but you must take the time to report that kind of behaviour to the police, or it won’t stop.
That is terrible. I’m sorry this happened to you and hope that you find somewhere nice to live soon (that’s not owned by an arsehole).
Imagine being so racist that you turn down money. Reminds me of a case in the US (because of course, this happened in America 🙄) where a Black female academic had her offer accepted on a house, they were all ready to exchange keys and the seller found out the buyer was Black and refused to sell to her. The estate agents actually told the buyer the reason the sale didn’t go through was because she is Black. SMDH.
I used to work at a Lettings Agency in London*, and I wanted to share some of the requests I witnessed from landlords during my time there. For context, most of these landlords were first-generation immigrants (I’m the child of one myself).
Some of their reasons for rejecting tenants were, yes- discriminatory. Preferences ranged from wanting only white tenants, avoiding renters who might understand their language (in live-in situations), concerns about “curry smells”, rejecting non-Muslim applicants, and insisting on female renters only.
The reality is that a lot of these landlords were Pakistani and I’m simply sharing my personal experience from working in lettings, take it as you will.
Show up for the viewing in white face 🤪 but just the face.
It’s probably more common than you think. We were renting a flat from a family who was living next door, same floor. We are Poles, they are Czechs and we became friends very quickly. At some point they decided to move back to their country and at the same time we bought our own flat so were about to move out. Because they were already abroad, they asked us if we could speak to the potential tenants the agency will send and choose the best ones. Their only condition was “no blacks”! We found them a very nice black family and everyone was happy. As far as I know this family lived there for 5 years and never caused any issues.
22 comments
In the US this looks like a clear case of housing discrimination and has pretty gnarly consequences. In the UK, it seems the landlords can be right bastards that operate with impunity.
Fuck those people. And fuck whoever downvoted this.
Wonder how to stop it. It’s already illegal but there’s plausible deniability especially on a site like spare room, less so for a formal letting.
I’d show up to the viewing just to make him feel awkward tbh
I remember doing this 8 years ago and getting the same result.
Somethings don’t change
Some first gen immigrants will not rent to black people and there’s nothing to be done because anti discrimination laws somehow doesn’t apply to them.
It happened to me with an Indian immigrant, he wouldn’t rent me a room unless I stopped eating meat or some bullshit, told him I’ll happily become a vegetarian but I’d need to live rent free.
I remember someone asking for my face pic before I came to see their houseshare…
I hated the idea of being judged beforehand purely by my looks. The same person then told me the room was gone moments before I arrived at their place, having travelled across London to get there.
OP, that’s a horrible experience for you, the market is incredibly competitive for anyone but sounds impossible with that kind of prejudice.
Wow so were also importing racists….
All these little experiences/disadvantages whilst navigating life, add up, too. Horrible reality.
Smh you don’t wanna put money into someone like that’s pocket anyway 😔
Such bullshit
It’s unfortunately not surprising, despite this city’s diversity, there are still **a lot** of people here who seem to dislike existing around anyone who isn’t white. If you’re brown or black and you’re in a shop that’s aimed at wealthier customers, the staff treat you rudely and basically harass you until you leave the store. It’s pushed me away from buying some smaller, local brands.
Try it with the sexy girl profile… they’ll be paying you to live there.
Lucky you.. Sure you wanted to rent a room from an Albanian?.. ;))
there you go, stereotyping isn’t always a bad thing.
I’ve reported racist landlords on here before, but they don’t seem to do much.
That is illegal. I know your immediate concern is finding a home but you must take the time to report that kind of behaviour to the police, or it won’t stop.
That is terrible. I’m sorry this happened to you and hope that you find somewhere nice to live soon (that’s not owned by an arsehole).
Some things never change.
[‘No Blacks, no Irish, no dogs’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5Hyo2DzCKU)
Imagine being so racist that you turn down money. Reminds me of a case in the US (because of course, this happened in America 🙄) where a Black female academic had her offer accepted on a house, they were all ready to exchange keys and the seller found out the buyer was Black and refused to sell to her. The estate agents actually told the buyer the reason the sale didn’t go through was because she is Black. SMDH.
I used to work at a Lettings Agency in London*, and I wanted to share some of the requests I witnessed from landlords during my time there. For context, most of these landlords were first-generation immigrants (I’m the child of one myself).
Some of their reasons for rejecting tenants were, yes- discriminatory. Preferences ranged from wanting only white tenants, avoiding renters who might understand their language (in live-in situations), concerns about “curry smells”, rejecting non-Muslim applicants, and insisting on female renters only.
The reality is that a lot of these landlords were Pakistani and I’m simply sharing my personal experience from working in lettings, take it as you will.
Show up for the viewing in white face 🤪 but just the face.
It’s probably more common than you think. We were renting a flat from a family who was living next door, same floor. We are Poles, they are Czechs and we became friends very quickly. At some point they decided to move back to their country and at the same time we bought our own flat so were about to move out. Because they were already abroad, they asked us if we could speak to the potential tenants the agency will send and choose the best ones. Their only condition was “no blacks”! We found them a very nice black family and everyone was happy. As far as I know this family lived there for 5 years and never caused any issues.
Terrible!
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