Challenging an eviction with discrimination law

The first thing you need to do is make sure your discrimination problem is covered by the Equality Act.

You’ll then need to decide the best way to use the law to challenge the eviction and gather evidence to help you make your case.

You can still try to resolve the problem informally even when your landlord’s started the eviction process - you might be able to get a solution before your case goes to court.

Check how strong your case is

You should assess how strong your case is and reconsider this when you get any evidence from the other side.

You should make sure that you:

1. have identified your legal rights

2. have shown how those legal rights have been breached

3. know the elements that must be established to prove you’ve got a legal right - this is different for each type of discrimination so check if you're not sure

You should write down the different elements of the case and add the facts that you have to support them. You can then write down whether you have any evidence to support those facts - like an email saying why you’re being evicted.

Doing this will also to help you work out what extra evidence you might need to get to be able to prove your case and identify any gaps or weaknesses in your case.   

If you’re claiming more than one type of discrimination

You’ll need to do this for each one. Sometimes you'll be able to use the same evidence to show the different types of discrimination.  For example, you might be able to use the same facts and evidence to show a claim of discrimination arising from disability as well as a failure to make reasonable adjustments. 

Check if there’s any defence to the discrimination

Once you’ve matched the evidence you have to the elements of each type of discrimination, you should think about whether your landlord, property manager or controller will try to defend the case even if you can prove that the discrimination happened.

For indirect discrimination and discrimination arising from disability they could say that the action is justified as it is a ‘proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim’. Indirect discrimination is covered in section 19 of the Equality Act 2010 and discrimination arising from disability is covered in section 15 of the Equality Act 2010.

For reasonable adjustments they could say it’s not ‘reasonable’ or that they don’t have to make the adjustments you’ve asked for. Reasonable adjustments are covered by sections 20, 36 and Schedule 4 of the Equality Act 2010.

You should think about anything that will weaken their argument, for example if there’s a less discriminatory way to achieve their aim or if their reasons have been inconsistent so don’t seem credible.

If you identify gaps in your evidence or you think having looked at your evidence and that of your landlord, property manager or controller that they have a stronger case you might decide to gather some more evidence and then reassess your case.

Check how strong your evidence is

You don’t always need to have lots of evidence to have a strong case - it’s usually more important that the evidence is of a good quality.

Strong evidence could include evidence that is:

• from someone who witnessed the discriminatory incident

• from someone who isn’t linked to either party

• factual

• put together at the time or soon after the incident

Be careful about making claims or relying on incidents you don't have evidence to support. There’s a risk you might have to cover some or all of the other side's costs if you've wasted court time because your claim wasn't very strong or was bound to fail. There is also risk that it could distract the court’s attention from your stronger arguments. Get help from an adviser if you need help to do this. 

Check the court rules you have to follow

If you go to court to defend your eviction, you’ll be expected to follow the rules on court action. These rules include:

• the Civil Procedure Rules

• the Practice Direction - Proceedings under Enactments Relating to Equality

If you or the other side - you’re called ‘the parties’ - don't follow these rules, the court will take this into account when it makes its decision. If you haven't done what you’re supposed to, you might find that:

• your case won't be heard

• you might not be allowed to rely on certain evidence or arguments

• you might be ordered to pay the other side’s legal costs if you lose or run up legal costs unnecessarily by being unreasonable
• you might not recover your costs against the other side if you win the case if you run up legal costs unnecessarily by being unreasonable

The Civil Procedure Rules

The court’s main aim is to make sure that each case is dealt with fairly. If you decide that you want to take someone to court, the court will expect both parties to co-operate with each other as far as possible.

The Civil Procedure Rules are there to make sure that:

• the parties are on an equal footing

• the parties have tried to use other methods of sorting out the problem - like alternative dispute resolution

• the parties try to save costs where possible

• the way the case is dealt with reflects how much money is involved, how important or complicated the problem is and the financial position of the parties

• the case is dealt with quickly, efficiently and fairly - the legal term for this is ‘expeditiously and fairly’

Defend the eviction

There are a few steps in the process. You’ll need to:

1. take action when you get an eviction notice

2. write down why you're challenging the eviction  

3. send your defence to the court

4. prepare for the review date and court hearing

5. go to a court hearing