Woman's tweet sparks debate over housing discrimination

Religion, food habits, profession and gender are just a few of the many factors that decide whether you can get a house on rent in Bengaluru

A woman hunting for a house in Bengaluru tweeted that she had faced rejection because of her religion.

Haifa (@HaifaZu) shared snippets of her interaction with real estate brokers and homeowners on Twitter earlier this week.

“If everyone is done celebrating the 75th anniversary of Independence, here is how I spent Aug 15th,” she said, attaching screenshots of her conversations. In one interaction, Haifa is told, “Property available but owner wants Hindu family.” While some on Twitter related to her frustration and shared similar accounts, others urged her to file a police complaint.

Metrolife asked around about the extent of rental discrimination in Bengaluru.

A media professional says he was rejected because the owner was uncomfortable with the food habits of people from the north-eastern states. A Muslim says she was denied entry into an open house real estate event because she was wearing a hijab.

“When you go looking to rent a house, your identity is dissected. From the religion you follow to the food you eat and the kind of friends you have, everything about you is questioned. You’re basically placed under a microscope,” says Sanjana R, a 23-year-old student. Discrimination is not just limited to religion, and gender and region can also place you at a disadvantage, she says.

Sara, a media professional, has faced discrimination because of her unpredictable working hours, her faith and her status as an unmarried woman.

“I remember checking out more than 30 houses before I got to rent my current home. The thought of house-hunting is stressful, and so despite traffic problems in this area, I have decided to stay on here,” she says.

Advertising copywriter Hetvi Vashi, 25, found brokers and house owners questioning her ability to pay rent.

“They would often ask if my parents would pay my rent. Brokers would insist on talking to a parent or guardian because I am a woman. I didn’t see my
male peers facing such problems,” she says.

For some, just a name can cause problems, as Jihad, found out. “Given the current political situation, I tend to shorten my name when house hunting. Earlier this year, I had finalised a house when the owner saw my full name and raised an objection. Even the police got involved,” recalls the corporate employee.

Owners’ checklist

Property owners look at a host of factors when they choose their tenants.

“When you live in an apartment complex, you have various things to consider, from having pets to smoking at home,” says Vikram Rai, general secretary, Bangalore Apartments Federation.

Realtors say they have no option but to abide by the demands of the landlord. “Usually the locality plays a role too. Over the years, large groups from a particular community have settled down in certain pockets, so now they don’t like others coming into their space,” says a realtor who wanted to remain anonymous.

“If an owner has a checklist on who can or cannot stay at their property, I have to meet their demands and do my job. Sometimes owners have very specific demands about age, marital status, and so on,” he adds.

According to Sajidah Shaukath, COO, Insight Realtors and Legal Advisors, the financial stability of the tenant is also a concern. “As realtors, we just look for tenants who will be able to take good care of the property and pay rent on time. To ensure this, we need to run background checks and ask questions. It is unavoidable,” she tells Metrolife.

Landlord’s discretion

Landlords have absolute discretion over private properties. “Property owners and landlord are private individuals who lease or rent their properties through contracts and therefore are governed under the Contracts Act. Because these are private entities they have absolute discretion to decide whom they want to rent their property to,” explains K M Sai Apabharana, advocate.

While fundamentals rights — such as right to equality or right against discrimination — exist to protect citizens, their application gets murky in certain situations. “Such fundamental rights of a person can only be enforced against a state entity. For example, if the landlord here was actually a society set up by the state offering residence and such landlord prevented the lady from becoming a tenant because she was a Muslim woman, then she could have approached the High Court by filing a writ petition demanding residence. However, such rights do not exist against a private landlord,” she says.

As of now there doesn’t exist any law in the Indian constitution which can compel the landlord to provide the place on rent to Haifa who had originally posted the Twitter comment, adds Apabharana.