If someone's harassed you in housing

The Equality Act 2010 protects you against harassment related to protected characteristics - like race or being disabled.

The law says the behaviour must create ‘an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for you’ or ‘violate your dignity’.

Protected characteristics are covered in sections 5 to 18 of the Equality Act 2010.

Check if your protected characteristic is covered by the law

The protected characteristics for harassment in housing are in Part 4 of the Equality Act 2010.

They are:

Disability

You’re covered for a disability you have now and any you’ve now recovered from. A disability could be physical or mental - you could be covered even if you don’t consider yourself disabled.

You should - check if your disability is covered by the Equality Act 2010.

Disability is defined in section 6 of the Equality Act 2010.

Gender reassignment

The law covers 'gender reassignment' - this means if you're transgender.

You’re covered if you:

• are planning to transition - you don’t need to have had any medical treatment

• are in the process of transitioning

• have already transitioned

If you identify as non-binary but you aren’t transitioning, you might be covered but the law is complicated. You’ll need to get specialist advice before you go any further.

Gender reassignment is defined in section 7 of the Equality Act 2010.

Race

This includes your:

• colour - for example if you're black or white

• nationality

• ethnic origin - for example if you’re a Romany Gypsy

• national origin - this could be different from your nationality, for example if your family is from India but you have a British passport

Race is defined in section 9 of the Equality Act 2010.

Sex

This is whether you’re a man or a woman.

If you identify as non-binary you might be covered but the law is complicated. You’ll need to get specialist advice before you go any further.

Sex is defined in section 11 of the Equality Act 2010.

If you’ve been harassed for another reason

You can’t take action for harassment under Part 4 of the Equality Act 2010 if you were harassed because of your: 

• sexual orientation

• religion or belief

You might still be able to take action under discrimination law. It might be ‘direct discrimination’ - check if your problem is discrimination. This rule is in section 212(5) of the Equality Act 2010.

If you've been harassed because of pregnancy and maternity, you can't take action under harassment law but you might be able to argue that you've been harassed because of your sex (because you're female). You might also be able to show it's another type of discrimination - check the types of discrimination.

You won’t be able to take action under Part 4 of the Equality Act 2010 for age discrimination, or because you’re married or in a civil partnership. Part 4 is the part of the Act that deals with housing. 

The situation might also be a ‘hate crime’ - you can report a hate crime to the police. You might also be able to take action about harassment using the Protection from Harassment Act. 

Show what happened was ‘unwanted conduct’

You’ll need to prove the behaviour was ‘unwanted’ - you don’t need to have asked the person to stop.

They might argue it’s not unwanted if you’ve done similar things yourself. For example if you’ve told racist jokes before, your landlord might say you can’t be offended by other people telling racist jokes.

You’ll need to explain why what happened to you was unwanted - for example because it was more serious.

If someone’s managing a property or tenancies, they’re not allowed to harass you. This might be, for example, a landlord or someone who collects rent.

Show what happened was ‘related to a protected characteristic’

The harassment doesn’t have to be related to your own protected characteristic for you to take action. For example, you might be offended by a racist poster in your landlord’s office. It doesn’t matter what race you are - you could be offended or intimidated.

If you're not sure if the harassment is related to a protected characteristic, look at the evidence. For example if you only started being treated unfairly after people found out you’re disabled, it might be related to a protected characteristic.

Show that what happened had the ‘purpose or effect’ of offending you

You’ll need to show:

• the person who harassed you meant to offend you - this is called having ‘the purpose’ of offending you

• you were offended by what happened, even if someone didn’t mean to offend you - this is the ‘effect’ it had on you

If the person didn’t mean to offend you, it will only be harassment if it was ‘reasonable’ for you to be offended. For example if you started a conversation about gender with your landlord and they say women shouldn’t work, they might say that it wasn’t reasonable for you to be offended.

If you're thinking of taking legal action, check what the court will take into account when making a decision about 'purpose or effect'. It's section 26(4) of the Equality Act 2010.

This can be any unwanted sexual behaviour and doesn't have to be directed at you - including comments about your appearance or seeing pictures of naked people in your landlord’s office.

The law calls this ‘unwanted conduct of a sexual nature’. It says the behaviour must create ‘an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for you’ or ‘violate your dignity’.

Show what happened was ‘unwanted conduct’

You don’t need to have asked the person to stop for it to be unwanted. Your landlord might say it’s not ‘unwanted’ if you’ve done similar things yourself.

You'll need to explain why what happened to you was unwanted - for example, because it was more serious.

Show that what happened had the ‘purpose or effect’ of offending you

You’ll need to show:

• the person who harassed you meant to offend you - this is called having ‘the purpose’ of offending you

• you were offended by what happened, even if someone didn’t mean to offend you - this is the ‘effect’ it had on you

If the person didn’t mean to offend you, it will only be harassment if it was ‘reasonable’ for you to be offended.

For example if you’re asked out once by your letting agent, it’s probably not harassment - even if it makes you uncomfortable. This is because it’s not usually reasonable for you to be offended - unless it happens more than once, or in a rude or offensive way.

If you're thinking of taking legal action, check what the court will take into account when making a decision about 'purpose or effect'. It's section 26(4) of the Equality Act 2010. 

This is where you’re treated differently and worse because of how you reacted to:

• sexual harassment

• harassment related to sex

• harassment related to gender reassignment

The law calls this being treated ‘less favourably' because of your reaction to the harassment. It doesn’t matter if your reaction was to accept or reject the harassment.

Example

Last month Charlotte’s landlord was sexually harassing her - he kept asking her out to dinner and bumping into her when she was leaving the house.

One evening he asked whether she’d go home with him - she said no. 

Charlotte was intimidated by her landlord’s behaviour, so she told him to only contact her in writing. She told him not to come to the house without giving her notice beforehand.

This month Charlotte’s landlord has refused to renew her tenancy agreement and has said he’ll give her a bad reference. If this is because she rejected her landlord’s behaviour, then it’s another act of harassment.