Courts

Landlord liable for ‘minor’ discrimination after tenant was told he ‘didn’t do HAP’

Maintenance man was ‘most unenthusiastic’ when asked to fill out forms earlier this year

Dr Kashan said he was “absolutely willing to accept HAP, but it fell foul of an excessive string of unfortunate queries” from the authorities. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA Wire

Stephen Bourke
Fri Dec 15 2023 - 15:18

A landlord has been held liable for “minor” discrimination after his maintenance man told a tenant against his wishes that the landlord “didn’t do HAP”.

The Workplace Relations Commission has partially upheld a complaint under the Equal Status Act 2000 by the tenant, Rachel Few, against her landlord, Dr Rashid Karshan – ordering him to pay €250 compensation and make a charity donation.

Ms Few said in evidence that the landlord’s maintenance person, described as a “builder” and referred to only as Mr G in a decision published today, was “most unenthusiastic” when she asked him to fill out the HAP forms on January 25th 2023.

She Mr G told her that Dr Kashan did not “do HAP” and engaged in “intimidatory behaviour” towards her and her housemates.

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Ms Few told the WRC she was afraid they would all be evicted from the property unless she dropped the HAP case.

After taking advice from the housing charity Threshold, Ms Few served her landlord with the statutory notice form for a claim under the Equal Status Act via Mr G on February 13th this year.

Four days later, Mr G told her Dr Kashan would agree to accept HAP, but that the tenants would have to sign a new letting agreement.

A Threshold advocate who appeared for the complainant said there had been “much pointless time wasting” after Mr G informed the tenant that an estate agent was to handle the paperwork and that it took a further six weeks to send the forms to the local authority and have the payment approved.

“As a result of all the unnecessary delays and incessant bureaucratic roundabouts the Tenant was left short of the HAP for the months of February and March,” the Threshold representative said – a loss estimated at €874.

Dr Kashan told the tribunal that he “never had any issue with HAP”, but said his affairs in connection with the property were being handled by Mr G and a different registered letting agent, Mr D, who was handling the documents.

He said there had been “excessive bureaucratic delays” at the local authority and the central office processing HAP applications.

There were delays because the former owner was still registered on the deeds, while there were issues with bank accounts and the family names involved not being in the “common Irish format”, he said.

Dr Kashan said he was “absolutely willing to accept HAP, but it fell foul of an excessive string of unfortunate queries” from the authorities.

He added that his estate agent fell ill in March that year, compounding the delays.

The Landlord said he had no detailed knowledge of the actions taken by Mr G in January 2023 but said if the man had been “a bit off-handed” he could only apologise.

Mr G did not appear at the hearing to give an account of what happened, the tribunal noted.

In his decision, adjudicator Michael McEntee remarked that Dr Kashan appeared to be “most genuine and not in any way seeking to avoid any legal responsibilities”.

“The evidence is that [Ms Few] was subject to bureaucratic delays but to extend this to a complaint of Discrimination under the Equal Status Act, 2000 is not sustainable,” Mr McEntee found.

The adjudicator wrote that it appeared Mr G had been “initially quite aggressive in his replies” to the tenants on HAP, even though the application eventually went through when Ms Few got through directly to Dr Kashan.

“On a strict legal basis the actions of Mr G towards the complainant and her housemates were clearly discriminatory. The landlord should have had him better briefed on how the deal with HAP situations,” he wrote.

Upholding the complaint in part, he said Dr Kashan’s actions were “of [a] lesser order than what might have been if HAP had been absolutely refused” – calling Mr G’s actions “minor discrimination” on the grounds of housing assistance.

Holding Dr Kashan vicariously liable for the actions of Mr G, Mr McEntee ordered him to pay Ms Fee €250 in compensation and to make a donation of €250 to Threshold.

Mr McEntee added that the financial burden on the tenant from the bureaucratic delays “might possibly be an issue for the Ombudsman Service” if Ms Few was to pursue the matter there.

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