LGBT charities and activists staged a ‘kiss-in’ protest outside a north London letting agency last week after a lesbian couple were denied a flat by a landlord last May.
A large group of LGBT people gathered outside Wood Green Estates to voice their opposition to the couple’s treatment.
The couple approached the letting agency in May to view a specific flat but claim that they were told it was only being advertised for straight couples.
The protestors allege that the pair were told that because they were both women they were not considered a ‘proper couple’ and were offered no further help from the agency.
In a statement, The Outside Project, a charity that seeks to provide shelter for homeless LGBT+people, said that the agency had refused to show the apartment to the couple because the landlord was looking for “male/female couples”.
Carla Ecola, director of The Outside Project, commented: “Prejudice from estate agencies and landlords drive our community to illegal, insecure tenancy agreements in areas they do not feel safe and adds to the alarmingly higher rate of homelessness amongst our community.
“We support this peaceful protest in standing together against the LGBTIQ+ homelessness caused by the systemic oppression of our community within the housing sector and demand equality in access to safe accommodation.”
Wood Green Estates has denied allegations of homophobia and argue that the couple were only denied the flat because the landlord wanted to rent to just a single tenant.
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These protesters should channel their energy in finding a proper job
Shouldn't the facts of this case be established before this is made a headline story? (At the moment it's all 'apparently', 'they claim', etc. ) And the protesters should hold off for the moment.
(Strange though that landlords can legally discriminate against smokers, pet-owners, students, social security claimants, etc. etc.)
A few years ago I received an email from (what looked to be) a lesbian couple after not offering them a tenancy. She complained that, despite being able to afford the property, and being in good, full time employment (one of the couple was an architect that had worked on the Shard in London), they were turned down.
I declined to reply to her email, but if I had, and been honest, she may have been even more upset.
The truth was this was a 5 bedroom house, and I felt it should be let to a family, (which eventually it was, a three generation family of five), and not to a couple. Also, I was looking for a tenant that would happily cope with higher level DIY stuff, which I believed neither of the ladies would do. I may have been wrong in this belief, but asking an overweight lady if she could repair a brick wall may not have gone down well. The likelihood of this couple being lesbian played absolutely no part in my decision.
i have a gay couple (ladies) in a property, they are as good as gold.
If this is the case and the story hasn’t been twisted and misrepresented then obviously wrong. I let to a female partnership with children very good tenants and I think you will find that they seem quite adept to normal diy maintenance unlike some.
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