Preparing to challenge your eviction if you've been discriminated against

Before you take any action you need to make sure your discrimination problem is covered by the Equality Act.

You might be able to stop your eviction if:

• your landlord is evicting you because of a protected characteristic (direct discrimination)

• your landlord's eviction process puts you and people with your protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage (indirect discrimination)

• the reason for the eviction is because of something connected to your disability (discrimination arising from a disability)

• the reason you’re being evicted is connected with your landlord’s failure to make a reasonable adjustment - for example they refused to make an adjustment to the way you pay your rent and because of that you got into rent arrears

• your landlord is evicting you because you challenged discrimination before, including asking for reasonable adjustments (victimisation) - check what counts as victimisation

You might also able to stop your eviction if you’re being evicted because you owe rent, but your landlord has also discriminated against you. You could tell the court about the discrimination and ask that any compensation you get goes towards the rent you owe - this is called a 'counterclaim'.

The legal name for stopping an eviction is ’defending a possession claim’. 

The law that protects you against eviction because of discrimination from landlords or property managers is in section 35 of the Equality Act 2010.

Evidence could be things like letters from a doctor showing you have a protected characteristic, social media messages or witnesses who saw what happened.

As well as arguing you've been discriminated against, you might also be able challenge the eviction for other reasons. For example, your landlord might not have used the right process to start the eviction.

Check if you can challenge the eviction in other ways

There are other defences under housing law that everyone can use, whether they have been discriminated against or not. For example, that the landlord didn't use the correct procedure to evict you or in some cases if the action they're taking is unreasonable. You can then add your discrimination arguments to these.

You first need to check the rules on eviction that apply to your type of tenancy and how your landlord is trying to evict you.

If you live in a council or housing association home you need to check your eviction notice is valid and check other ways to challenge your eviction.

If you live in a private rented home, the first thing you should do is:

• check your section 21 notice from a private landlord

• check your section 8 notice from a private landlord

If you have a different type of eviction notice you might still be able to use discrimination to try to defend it, but you should get help from an adviser.

Even if you don’t have a defence using other housing laws you might be able to defend your eviction using discrimination law. For example you might be able to defend your eviction if you’re:

• an assured shorthold tenant and your landlord has used a section 21 notice

• a secure or assured tenant and your landlord has used ‘mandatory possession grounds’

• a starter tenant with a housing association

• an introductory tenant

• a demoted tenant

• sub-letting your home

Building your discrimination argument

Your argument depends on the type of discrimination. It might count as more than one type - for example it could be both ‘direct discrimination’ and ‘discrimination arising from a disability’.

If it was more than one type of discrimination you'll need to include them all. Sometimes you'll be able to use the same evidence to show the different types of discrimination. For example, you might be able to use the same facts and evidence to show a claim of discrimination arising from disability as well as a failure to make reasonable adjustments.  

You should mention all the types of discrimination you’ve faced when you challenge your eviction, but for some situations there are specific tactics you can use. Check the tactics that apply to you.

Get advice if you’re not sure what discrimination arguments you can use.

If you’re not making a counterclaim

You might be able to get compensation for any discrimination you’ve experienced from your landlord. You’ll need to treat this separately to your eviction - you can read more about deciding what to do about housing discrimination.  

Next steps

Once you’ve decided what arguments you can use, you’ll need to gather evidence of the discrimination before you fill out your defence form.