The Irish Circuit Court has found that a man had been discriminated on the ‘housing assistance ground’ when a landlord informed him that she did not accept the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP).
Mr. Damien Keogh, who was represented by FLAC, had been HAP approved for a number of year but was living in homeless accommodation. He had been trying to secure accommodation for some time when he inquired about an advertised vacancy for a one room apartment. He advised the landlord by email that he qualified for HAP and had all his paperwork ready. The landlord responded promptly to his inquiry that ‘... we do not accept HAP at the minute’.
The scope of the Equal Status Acts, which prohibit discrimination in the provision of goods and services, was expanded from January 2016 to prohibit discrimination in the provision of accommodation based on a person’s eligibility for housing assistance. This includes rent allowance or the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) or any payment under the social welfare acts. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) held in Mr Keogh’s favour and the landlord was ordered to pay him the sum of €2,000.
The landlord appealed the decision to the Circuit Court and the President of the Circuit Court, Mr Justice Groarke, upheld the decision of the adjudicating officer of the WRC that Mr. Keogh had indeed been discriminated against. The landlord maintained that she did not have sufficient knowledge about the HAP scheme to participate in it. In his judgement, Mr Justice Groarke noted that although there was no ‘mala fides’ in the landlord’s action, lack of knowledge of the law is not a defence and that there was discrimination in Mr Keogh’s case. While he reduced the award from €2000 to €1000, he also awarded legal costs against the landlord in favour of Mr. Keogh.
It is understood that this is the first appeal of a discrimination case from the WRC on the ‘housing assistance ground’ to the Circuit Court.
Eilis Barry, Chief Executive of FLAC, welcomed the outcome of the Appeal stating, “It is important that this new legislative provision which protects people in receipt of the HAP payment is found to be effective. Landlords need to be aware of this important protection and ensure that they do not discriminate against potential and existing tenants in receipt of HAP”.
In August 2017, in a similar case supported by FLAC, the WRC awarded compensation to three tenants who had been discriminated against when the landlord refused to facilitate their access to HAP. This decision by the WRC was significant as it clarified not only that landlords cannot reject prospective tenants eligible for the housing assistance payment solely on that basis, but also that the new housing assistance equality ground also applies to existing tenancies.
Click here to read the decision.
Click here to read a previous Bulletin article on the 2017 HAP case taken by FLAC.