A real estate agent who discriminated against a woman looking for accommodation because of her foreign name must pay compensation for discrimination. This was decided by the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe.
Specifically, the case concerned a case from 2022 in which a woman, using her Pakistani first and last name, had applied several times via an online form to view flats with the agent. All her enquiries were rejected. However, enquiries with identical information on income, occupation and household size under the names ‘Schneider’, “Schmidt” and ‘Spieß’ were successful. This meant that the woman was given an appointment to view the property. She felt discriminated against because of her origin and sued for damages for a violation of the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG).
Discrimination on the basis of migration background
The Federal Court of Justice ruled in favour of the woman, stating that she had been discriminated against on the basis of her origin. According to a statement by Germany’s highest civil court, the comparison of the rejected applications under non-German names with the successful applications under German names was sufficient evidence of this. The fact that the plaintiff had applied for a viewing appointment under a false name was also lawful. It was not a bogus enquiry; she actually wanted to rent a flat. The estate agent must now pay 3,000 euros in damages. According to the Federal Court of Justice, test enquiries are therefore permissible in order to prove discrimination. And it is not only flat owners who can be held liable for proven discrimination, but also estate agents.
Source: Federal Court of Justice:
https://www.bundesgerichtshof.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/DE/2026/2026025.html?nn=10690868
Further information:
https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/diskriminierung-wohnungssuche-100.html
https://www.zdfheute.de/video/heute-nachrichten/bgh-gerichtsurteil-wohnungssuchende-name-schutz-video-100.html
By Bernhard Kirschner
tun26020301