The equal opportunity Act prohibits discrimination on a range of grounds including sex, race, age, disability, marital status, pregnancy, family status or responsibility, religious or political beliefs, spent convictions, sexual orientation or gender history.
Generally a Landlord cannot refuse to rent a property to tenants with children; it is discriminatory and therefore against the law.
You can only refuse if:
- you usually live in the property and will be returning
- the Government has provided the property exclusively for single people or childless couples
- the property is unsuitable or inappropriate for children
Landlord Laugh Lines:
A large family with seven children moved to a new city. They were having a difficult time finding an apartment to live in. Many apartments were large enough, but the Landlords objected to the large family.
After several days of searching, the father asked the mother to take the four younger children to visit the cemetary, while he took the older three to find an apartment.
After they had looked most of the morning the father found a place that was just right.
Then the Landlord asked the usual question, “How many children do you have?”
The father answered with a deep sigh, “Seven… but four are with their dear mother in the cemetary.”
He got the apartment.