Deciding what to do about housing discrimination

It might be best to try and solve your problem by complaining first. If this doesn’t work, you can still take court action.

Start gathering evidence as soon as possible. Keep any messages about the problem and write some notes of what happened. If you’re renting privately, be careful about asking your landlord for evidence as they might decide to evict you.

Before you can solve the problem you’ll need to:

• check the deadlines for taking action

• decide what outcome you want

• decide whether to complain or take legal action

If you’re being evicted because of discrimination, your options are different - check what to do about an eviction.

If you take action about discrimination and are treated unfairly because of it, it's called 'victimisation'. You're protected by the law and can add it to your existing claim.

You can get help with deciding how to deal with your problem from an adviser - they can help you build a stronger case.

Check the deadlines

The date you were discriminated against could be when someone:

• made a decision - for example the date your landlord refused your request to make a reasonable adjustment

• discriminated against you by refusing to rent a property to you

If you have more than one claim, you might have different deadlines for each one. Check all the dates you were discriminated against and work out the deadlines for each claim.

If you decide not to take legal action straight away, you should still complain as soon as you can. It means you’ll still be able to take action if you can’t resolve the problem by complaining.

If you asked for reasonable adjustments it can be hard to work out the date to start counting from. Check how to work out time limits for reasonable adjustments.

Decide what outcome you want

Think about what you want to happen. You might be able to get:

Deciding what action to take

The main options are complaining or taking legal action. It can be best to complain first and then take legal action if complaining doesn't solve the problem.

It can be stressful and take a long time to resolve a discrimination problem.

Think about how much proof you have of the facts in your case and how strong your case is. If you take legal action the court will need to be satisfied that each element can be 'established on the balance of probabilities’ - this means that it’s more likely than not.

If you don't have much evidence or your evidence is weak, it can be hard to win your case. You should also think about any evidence the other side might have that could weaken your case.

Once you’ve gathered your evidence, you should check again how strong your case is.

Going to court

It will usually take months to resolve a problem if you go to court. You’ll need to make sure you meet all the court’s deadlines too.

It can also be expensive, but you might be able to get help with legal costs.

If you’re thinking of taking legal action, it's a good idea to discuss it with an adviser - check where to get help.

Work out how much your case is worth

You might be able to get compensation for:

• any money you’ve lost because of the discrimination

• the emotional impact of the discrimination, like for stress - this is called ‘injury to feelings’

• a personal injury

You can get different amounts for ‘injury to feelings’ - depending on how serious the discrimination is.

In some indirect discrimination cases, the court has to consider other ways of solving your problem before they consider compensation. For example, they might order your landlord to change a policy so that it isn’t discriminatory. The rules on this are in section 119 of the Equality Act 2010.

Think about negotiating

It’s a good idea to keep speaking to the other side once you’ve taken action. You might be able to negotiate and reach an agreement with them.

You can negotiate even if you’ve sent a formal complaint or started legal action.

If you decide to take court action, it’s best to be able to show the court you tried to deal with your case outside of court.

Next steps

You’ll need to gather evidence to help you when you take action.