'Landlords discriminate against students on gender, race' claims agency

An online lettings agency specialising in student accommodation alleges that student tenants are discriminated against by landlords on the basis of gender and race - although the survey on which the claims are based was extremely small.

The agency, StudentTenant, received just 71 responses to its survey and from that it concludes that 38 per cent felt they had been subjected to some form of discrimination by a landlord.

One in five respondents cited that they had been subjected to discrimination due to their gender. This was either by a landlord prior to booking a student property, or throughout the duration of their tenancy agreement.

Those who felt they were discriminated against this way were predominantly male, believing they would be messier, louder and more likely to cause damage to the property than a female tenant.

One in four respondents cited that they had been treated less favourably due to their race.

One female student from the Middle East commented: “Landlord refused to speak to female members of the household, made offensive remarks about my appearance and refused to call me by my correct name all year.”

Another respondent discovered that his rent was due to be increased by nearly three-times the advertised price, once the landlord found out he was an international student from the Middle East.