Letting Agencies Illegal Colour Bar: On Tuesday 15 October 2013 people were quick to react to to a BBC London investigation broadcast the previous night showing that letting agents in London were prepared to break equality laws and discriminate against African-Caribbean people on behalf of landlords.
Among the letting agents who were shown to be operating a colour bar were two on the Willesden High Road in Brent, and Brent Housing Action organised a protest against National Estate Agents and A to Z Property Services who had been named by the BBC. Supporting Brent Housing Action were Unite Community, Brent Renters Campaign, Housing 4 All (the Counihan Family Campaign), Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group, and Cllr Margaret McLennan, Brent Council’s lead member for housing. Several other Brent councillors also joined the protest along with two workers from another letting agency in Willesden Green.
The BBC investigation had put a flat in Notting Hill on the market with a number of agents and had then sent closely matched Black and White investigators to ask for a viewing of the property.
At National Estates, the Black applicant was told the flat had already been let, while the White man was given an appointment to view.
A to Z Property told the Black investigator they would ring back – but never did, while offering the White investigator a viewing. It seems clear that both agents were operating an illegal colour bar.
It was well known that many letting agents were acting illegally. The the BBC report quoted a Runnymede Trust survey “29% of black people seeking private housing had experienced discrimination – compared to 1% of white respondents.” It also stated that “36 people told the Property Ombudsman they were the victim of racial discrimination in the past three years, not one single complaint was upheld” and only two of the allegations were fully investigated.
It seemed to many a return to the disgusting practices of the 1950s and 60s, made illegal under the 1968 Race Relations Act, and now against the Equality Act 2010. The protesters called for prosecutions and an end to all illegal discrimination by housing agents.
Both of the named agencies were closed and shuttered for the day. After speeches and protesting outside National Estate Agents, the group of around 30 protesters marched the half mile along Willesden High Rd to A to Z Properties, where a further protest with a few short speeches was held.
Brent is one of London’s more multicultural boroughs, and one with a proud record of community activities celebrating this. Brent councillors and Brent Housing Action promised to take further action to stamp out the housing colour bar to “make sure these practices – and the racism underpinning them – can finally be consigned to history.”
The National Estates Agent shop is now a nail bar, but A to Z Property Services is still at the same address on High Road Willesden.
Unfortunately such discrimination is still common in letting agencies. Shelter and others including the UK Government give advice on what to do if you feel you have been discriminated against, but I think there has been little real action to stop it happening, although the law has been strengthened to prevent discrimination against Of course what we really need is far more council housing to provide homes for all at a fair cost, but while we still have a high-priced private housing market – often taking half of tenant’s wages for substandard accommodation and paying huge subsidies to private landlords – at least that market should operate within the law.
More here about the ‘Counihan Family Campaign‘ and there are more pictures from the protest at Letting Agencies Illegal Colour Bar.
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