At a trial on 14th October 2024, the County Court found that a landlord had unlawfully discriminated against their tenant by seeking eviction after service of a section 21 notice. The Court dismissed the landlord’s possession claim and ordered the landlord to pay their tenant £13,000 in compensation for discrimination plus a further £1,242.85 in compensation for disrepair.
The defendant was disabled and had fallen into rent arrears because her disability affected her ability to get income from work. The landlord had served a section 21 notice and then taken the defendant to Court, asking the Court to authorise her eviction, because of the rent arrears. It was found that, based on what the landlord already knew about the defendant’s health conditions, they should have enquired further about them and therefore could reasonably have been expected to know about her disability. In circumstances where the defendant had cleared her rent arrears by the date of the trial, the Court decided it would be disproportionate for the landlord to be able to evict the defendant and that unlawful disability discrimination had taken place.
The successful defendant was represented at trial on 14th October 2024 by Sarah Steinhardt of Doughty Street Chambers. She was instructed by Andy Marlow of the Community Law Partnership, who was assisted on the day of the trial by his colleague Robbyn Spiers. Dominic Preston of Doughty Street Chambers also assisted earlier in the case.