Differential Treatment of Rental Home Seekers According to their Sociodemographic and Economic Status by Real Estate Agencies in Belgium

In this article we aim to discover whether anti-discrimination laws guarantee equal access to housing for all rental home seekers. We focus on private rental housing offered through real estate agencies as we assume that these are aware of the existence of anti-discrimination laws. Our investigation takes place in Belgium where frequent reporting on discrimination in access to housing led to a large investigation to learn more about how this discrimination takes place. The method used in this article consists of two approaches. In one part we approach the real estate agency from the supply-side through a fictional private landlord who wants to rent out his apartment, and who asks the real estate agency if they are willing to avoid some type of candidates. In the second part we approach the real estate agency from the demand-side, conducting situational tests by visiting vacant houses. Our results suggest that different home seekers are treated differently. Even where real estate agencies are aware that the practise is discriminatory, they are still willing to avoid renters with certain characteristics, either by not granting them a visit in the first instance or in more hidden ways later in the search process, whether before, during or after the actual visit.status: publishe