Discrimination in community-led housing

An introduction to the Equality Act 2010.

There may be some instances where community-led housing groups wish to restrict their properties or any services they provide to a particular group of people. For example, groups may want to cater their housing for a particular age group or sexual orientation, or may want to ensure all members adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet for sustainability reasons. But is this possible?

The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination based on specific protected characteristics in certain circumstances, including some property transactions and the provision of goods, services and facilities. However, it also permits discrimination in specific situations.

This is a complex area of law which turns on the facts and it is important to take legal advice if you have any concerns. We recently delivered a webinar providing CLH groups with an overview of the Equality Act 2010 and discussing some of these issues as part of our community-led housing bitesize series.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of this article further, please contact the Charities and Social Economy team on 0113 244 6100.

You can also keep up to date by following Wrigleys Solicitors on LinkedIn.

The information in this article is necessarily of a general nature.  The law stated is correct at the date (stated above) this article was first posted to our website.

Specific advice should be sought for specific situations. If you have any queries or need any legal advice, please feel free to contact Wrigleys Solicitors.