Should landlords be able to reject families from renting?

Saturday 10 April 2021

Islanders are being asked if landlords should be stopped from refusing tenants based on whether they have children.

The new consultation launched by the Social Security Minister comes ahead of her plans to change the law so that landlords will no longer be able to discriminate against those with children.

As it currently stands, though the Discrimination (Jersey) Law 2013 does not include any law against age discrimination in regards to the disposal or management of a premises.

This means that a tenant can legally be discriminated against on the basis they have a child living with them. 

Pictured: Social Security Minister Deputy Judy Martin will be drafting the final regulations based on comments from the consultation.

Social Security Minister Deputy Judy Martin intends to change this, and has already prepared draft regulations to amend the law. 

In the current draft of the amendment, the Minister takes into account issues such as:  

• Excluding certain properties from the ban, with age still being taken into account for accommodation reserved for people of a particular age, those in residential care homes or registered providers of holiday accommodation.
• The person or organisation will be able to take into account health and safety issues – for example, if it were “reasonable” for a property to be given to someone with children.
• Extending the law to cover marketing of property as well as the disposal of premises too. 

However, she is first launching a consultation for islanders to give their comments on the current amendments, which she will then use in her final draft that she proposes to the States Assembly.

The consultation is open for responses until 30 April 2021.

CLICK HERE to share your views.