If someone's harassed you in housing

Harassment is where someone creates a atmosphere that makes you feel uncomfortable. This could be because you feel offended, intimidated or humiliated.

If you’re being harassed by someone like your landlord or an estate agent, it might be discrimination.

You might be able to take action to stop the harassment. You might also be able to get compensation.

The law that protects you from harassment in housing is under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010.

It might be harassment if someone’s:

• verbally abused you

• asked very personal questions, for example about your disability or religion

• put up posters that make you feel uncomfortable

• made rude physical gestures or facial expressions towards you

• told you jokes of a sexual nature

• made comments you find offensive, for example on social media

If the harassment is very serious, it might also be a crime. For example, it’s a crime if someone has sexually assaulted you or made physical threats.

Check what’s harassment under discrimination law

For all types of harassment, the behaviour you’re complaining about has to be something you didn’t want. The law calls this ‘unwanted conduct’.

You also always need to show that the person who harassed you meant to make you feel a certain way, or that you felt that way even though it wasn’t their intention. This is called ‘purpose or effect’. If the person didn’t mean to make you feel this way, it also has to be ‘reasonable’ that you felt that way.

You need to show that the purpose or effect of the conduct was that it violated your dignity or created an environment that:

• humiliates you

• offends you

• intimidates you

• is hostile

• is degrading

You also have to show that your situation is covered by one of the 3 types of harassment in discrimination law.

The first type is where the unwanted conduct related to a relevant 'protected characteristic' like sex or race.

The second type is where the unwanted conduct is of a sexual nature.

The third type is where you’re treated worse because of rejecting or submitting to unwanted sexual behaviour or behaviour related to gender reassignment or sex. This is called ‘being treated less favourably’.

It doesn’t matter if the behaviour is directed at you or not - for example, if you overhear the staff at a letting agency making racist jokes or comments to each other.

Check who you can take action against

The Equality Act 2010 says you can take action against certain people. This includes your landlord - this might also be a tenant who’s subletting their property to you.

This might be companies or people who discriminate against you when they:

• sell or rent out a home, such as renting through a letting agent - this is called ‘permission for disposal of premises’ in the law

• need to agree to sell or rent out a home, such as a joint owner -  this is called ‘permission for disposal of premises’ in the law

• manage a home, such as landlords, agents and people collecting rent - this is called ‘management of premises’ in the law

If an estate agent is acting on behalf of a landlord and they’ve discriminated against you, you might be able to take action against both of them. This will depend on what the landlord has allowed the estate agent to do.

For example, a landlord might have a defence if an estate agent acted against instructions to not harass people.

Who you can take action against in relation to selling, renting or management of premises is covered by sections 33 to 35 of the Equality Act 2010.

Part 4 of the Equality Act that covers housing doesn’t cover everywhere you might be living. It doesn't cover places like hotels, holiday homes or prisons. If your problem is about any of these, find out if you can take action.

Check if it’s criminal harassment

It could be criminal harassment as well as discrimination if your landlord tries to make your life difficult by doing things like:

• interfering with or cutting off services such as water, gas or electricity

• visiting your home regularly without warning, especially at night

Contact the housing department at your local council or the police - they can take action against your landlord.

You might also be able to claim compensation using a different harassment law called the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

You can get help from an adviser if you’re not sure what you should do.

If someone else is harassing you

You might be able to take action against service providers if you’ve been harassed by someone else who deals with your home, for example:

• surveyors and valuers

• solicitors

• mortgage lenders

If you’re not protected by the Equality Act

If you think you’re protected by the Equality Act

You can decide what to do about your housing discrimination problem.