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Discrimination in the provision of accommodation services is prohibited by the Equal Status Acts 2000 – 2015 (“the ESA”).
A person (this includes private persons, landlords, estate agents, and property agents) shall not publish or, display or cause to be published or displayed an advertisement which indicates an intention to engage in discrimination, or might reasonably be understood as indicating such an intention.
Both advertisers and property agents can be liable for discriminatory advertisements, on the instructions of property owners and/or landlords.
In the context of the provision of accommodation, and services and amenities relating to accommodation, there are ten protected grounds, these are:
Direct and indirect discrimination are prohibited under the ESA. Discrimination by association, and by imputation are also unlawful under the ESA.
Not all forms of different treatment will amount to discriminatory treatment under the ESA:
Difference in treatment in the context of the rent or sale of private property will not be deemed unlawful in the following situations:
Positive obligations:
An advertisement will be deemed to be discriminatory for the purposes of the ESA where it indicates an intention, or might reasonably indicate an intention to discriminate for the purposes of the ESA.
When assessing an advertisement, an advertiser, or property agent should be guided by the following three stage-approach:
Does the advertisement include words or, phrases which might reasonably give rise to an intention to discriminate?
The following is a non-exhaustive list of possible examples:
It is acknowledged that words, including but not limited to, “family”, “mature”, and “professional” may capture adverts that are not necessarily discriminatory in nature. For example – “family bathroom”, “mature garden” or “professional landscaped garden” (These examples are illustrative only and are not exhaustive). Agents may seek to apply such further filter systems as appropriate and necessary in this regard, but must seek to ensure compliance with the ESA.
“Trigger word(s), or phrase(s)” and where appropriate the ad as a whole, that are clearly discriminatory in nature, should be removed.
In certain circumstances, the context of the ad as a whole should be assessed.
The assessor should, for instance, take account of the specific features and location of the property, local amenities, services, features and places of worship, the intended audience (for rent or sale), and if for rent, the duration of the lease.
The assessor should ask whether the advertisement indicates an intention to engage in discrimination (as outlined at Part B) or might reasonably be understood as indicating such an intention. The assessor should ask whether any of the above exceptions (as outlined at Part C) apply.
On following step 1 and 2 the agent should be in a position to determine whether the advertisement is in compliance with the ESA or, not.
On making the determination, the phrase or, where appropriate, the entire advertisement should be removed.
If it remains unclear to the assessor, he or she, should seek further information from source (where required) or seek guidance from a supervisor, where appropriate.
This is a guidance document only, and is not a definitive interpretation of the current law. This document is without prejudice to an advertiser, or publisher from seeking legal advice on any individual advertisement.