Trouble with letting agent?

shinayde

For the past few weeks iv been trying to find a nice house to rent, (sick of being squished into an apartment) finally i found one through a letting agent that was perfect,so got my references ready and the money together only to be told that the landlord would prefer a family to myself, my boyfriend and another couple. I called him to let him know i was still interested if they changed their mind, and was told a family were now very interested and were probably going to take it, i told him we were prepared to pay an extra 100 pm AND pay an extra deposit if he was worried about letting the house to 'young people'. However, i checked the property online later to find that the price of the property had been lowered! I'v been looking at places for weeks now, and my lease is up..still hoping i can get the house..anyone got any ideas how i can make them see we're not just a bunch of messers or should i abandon all hope? :eek::eek:

Victor

Equality authority - discrimination on grounds of marital status / family status and possibly age. You don't have to demand compensation, but a letter from them should set him right.

Alternatively, find out what professional organisation he is a member of and issue a nicely worded letter.

shinayde

Thanks for the advice...any ideas on how i could go about this? how to approach the letting agent??
do you think it would work or just p*** them off? its our dream house! keep fanticising about living there =] hah

20goto10

Victor wrote: »

Equality authority - discrimination on grounds of marital status / family status and possibly age. You don't have to demand compensation, but a letter from them should set him right.

Alternatively, find out what professional organisation he is a member of and issue a nicely worded letter.

Does that work in this circumstance? It's not a job application, I would have thought the landlord is quite entitled to pick and choose who he wants living in his house.

Cookie_Monster

20goto10 wrote: »

Does that work in this circumstance? It's not a job application, I would have thought the landlord is quite entitled to pick and choose who he wants living in his house.

+1 on this, if its a private LL rather than a company they can choose or reject whoever they want

She Devil

Sometimes It is best talking to Landlords themselves, Letting agents really are the middle man and are quite a nuisance in my opinion!
But the Landlord is entitled to have who he wants in his house. Which is understandable. Did you give your references? Maybe one of them didnt stand up for you ??

eth0_

shinayde wrote: »

Thanks for the advice...any ideas on how i could go about this? how to approach the letting agent??
do you think it would work or just p*** them off? its our dream house! keep fanticising about living there =] hah

God, you're being awfully naive. Offering the letting agent OVER the asking price? Basically begging with them and they still said 'no'?

Of course they're discriminating against you BUT if they did back-track and give you this house, you can bet they will cause you further trouble if this is how they behave towards you now!

Walk away from this and get somewhere cheaper elsewhere.

shinayde

yeah just loved the place =[ oh well..my search continues...
but yeah letting agents :mad: they make my blood boil >_<
and no, changed there mind before i gave em my reference details
thanx for the advice

ztoical

shinayde wrote: »

yeah just loved the place =[ oh well..my search continues...
but yeah letting agents :mad: they make my blood boil >_<
and no, changed there mind before i gave em my reference details
thanx for the advice

Some landlords just have set idea of the people they want renting their property. Doesn't make sense as surely money is money but they are free to pick and chose.

When I was looking to rent in Kilkenny couple of years back I'd a terrible time finding somewhere as all the landlords wanted couples. Had it happen twice that I saw somewhere, paid the deposit, moving forward with signing lease and in both cases the landlord decided all of a sudden they only wanted a family in the house cus they'd take better care of it. I ended up with a great place in the end and one of the houses sat empty for another good while and ended up being advertised for a good bit less. Their loss, don't care how nice the place was, you were only going to rent not buy so it's their loss, find somewhere better.

Victor

20goto10 wrote: »

Does that work in this circumstance? It's not a job application, I would have thought the landlord is quite entitled to pick and choose who he wants living in his house.

Equal Status Act 2000-2004, not the Employment Equality Act 1998. See the accommodation section here: www.equality.ie/getFile.asp?FC_ID=162&docID=226

However, I admit, this possibly doesn't apply in this case as the premises is likely to be a "small premises" in accordance with section 6 - http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2000/en/act/pub/0008/sec0006.html#partii-sec6

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

+1 on this, if its a private LL rather than a company they can choose or reject whoever they want

Irrelevant. The act applies to all businesses, company, partnership or sole trader, subject to the state exceptions.

She Devil wrote: »

But the Landlord is entitled to have who he wants in his house. Which is understandable.

Not quite.

gimme5minutes

Victor wrote: »

Not quite.

This is news to me if landlords don't have the right to have who they want living in their houses. And I don't see how Equality legislation applies here as then every single person who got turned down by a landlord could put in a claim for discrimination due to being a scumbag, student, on the dole, etc...

shinayde wrote: »

However, i checked the property online later to find that the price of the property had been lowered! I'v been looking at places for weeks now, and my lease is up..still hoping i can get the house..anyone got any ideas how i can make them see we're not just a bunch of messers or should i abandon all hope? :eek::eek:

They have absolutely no way of knowing if you are messers or not until it's too late. They or people they know could've had a bad experience before with young people. I think it's understandable that most landlords would prefer to rent to a quiet family than a some young people who may or may not cause hassle, be late with rent, throw parties.

shoegirl

20goto10 wrote: »

Does that work in this circumstance? It's not a job application, I would have thought the landlord is quite entitled to pick and choose who he wants living in his house.

There are grounds on which they can or cannot discriminate under the 2000 equality act for "services" which include renting a property. For example, gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, family status, etc. Sounds like you are being discriminated against on at least 2 of them. The equality authority should be your first point of call.

A LL is entitled to pick whoever he wants outside of the criteria above. That it is why it is still perfectly legal to discriminate against social welfare recipients but not, for example, lone parents. Surprised that the agent was dumb enough to tell you, however, that you were effectively being discriminated against. Most with half a clue will just tell you that the landlord prefers to vet tenants and they'll call you back if they are happy, but not give criteria that leaves them open to a discrimination claim.

shoegirl

gimme5minutes wrote: »

This is news to me if landlords don't have the right to have who they want living in their houses. And I don't see how Equality legislation applies here as then every single person who got turned down by a landlord could put in a claim for discrimination due to being a scumbag, student, on the dole, etc...

They technically CAN discrimination against a "scumbag, student, on the dole" prospective tenant. What they cannot discriminate against is somebody of a different colour, a gay couple, an unmarried couple, a lone parent family, somebody of a different religion, or a member of the travelling community simply BECAUSE of who they are.

It does seem odd, as generally childless couples are far more careful tenants than families, and working families make up a rather small proportion of tenants. Its quite possible that the landlord/lady is an old fashioned catholic who doesn't like the idea of couples "living in sin" under her roof.

Victor

Folks, please re-read my last post. It is probably legal to discriminate in the letting of ordinary-sized premises.