UCC accommodating gender discrimination

[dropcap style=boxed]F[/dropcap]ive of a total of 14 empty houses renting through the UCC Accommodation scheme were found to be in breach of the law after advertising exclusively for female tenants the Private Residential Tenants Board (PRTB) confirmed.Michelle Tritschler, a Client Director for the PRTB, stated that “landlords may not discriminate against potential tenants on the grounds of gender,” as a result of the Equal Status Acts 2000 – 2008.

“It’s disgraceful that landlords are allowed to discriminate against potential tenants based on gender, especially in such a blatant and open manner.”

While Tritschler did acknowledge that exceptions to this can be made if the letting currently houses multiple people of the same gender, who seek an additional tenant of the same gender for privacy reasons, or if the landlord also lives on the premises.However for the five relevant properties, which made up over a third of the vacant houses on the UCC Accommodation website on August 6th, these exceptions are non-applicable as the lettings were empty at the time when the advertisement was published.The issue first came to light after UCC Students’ Union Equality Officer, Rob O’Sullivan, experienced the discrimination firsthand whilst organising accommodation for the upcoming academic year. When asked about the adverts, O’Sullivan stated that “it’s disgraceful that landlords are allowed to discriminate against potential tenants based on gender, especially in such a blatant and open manner.”While O’Sullivan admitted that there exist some circumstances in which such behaviour is understandable, the Equality Officer added that “there is no justification for a landlord advertising to one specific gender when a house is empty. It is discrimination, plain and simple.”Barry Keane of the Cork University Residents Forum also condemned the advertisements, agreeing with the views of the PRTB, using the issue as a platform to urge caution on behalf of students when renting a property. Keane highlighted that when renting it is vital to ensure that the landlord has registered the property with the PRTB, as if this is not done and problems with the landlord subsequently emerge, a tenant can often be left without the help of a crucial ally in the PRTB.Although the offending adverts were removed or amended once raised, O’Sullivan argued that the discrimination issue only served to highlight a wider problem with the UCC Accommodations website.“The choice of wording in the option is remarkable as well. It is ‘gender’, not ‘sex’ that is used in advertising of properties, but when searching for properties ‘sex’ is used. There are, in reality, more than two genders. When a landlord does not have a preference for gender, the website states ‘Gender: Both.’ This is an unnecessary exclusionary measure that further alienates the often forgotten Trans* members of our student community,” O’Sullivan said.When asked about the use of the word gender on the website, along with the restrictions attached to it, Accommodation Officer David O’Leary acknowledged that the search settings may be changed in the future.“I know from some research that some American Colleges allow students to type in which ever gender category they associate with. It’s something we can look at in the office.”While the offending adverts were eventually changed, with the houses either being filled or reverting back to accepting tenants of either gender, it remains to be seen whether steps will be taken to prevent the problem from arising again in the future.