"Muslims only" rental adverts appear in London

Muslims in Great Britain. Photo: Golbis

In Great Britain, numerous rental offers have been discovered with labels "Muslims only," "for two Muslim guys or girls," or "Muslims preferred." Such discriminatory practices were documented by journalists from The Telegraph on popular platforms Facebook and Gumtree, as well as in the Telegram messenger.

In some cases, property owners directly addressed speakers of certain languages, such as Punjabi or Gujarati, effectively introducing national and religious segregation.

British legislation, namely the Equality Act 2010, directly prohibits discrimination based on religion, belief, or race in housing rentals. Landlords and real estate agents have no right to specify preferences regarding the religious affiliation of potential tenants. Nevertheless, such advertisements are openly posted in London areas such as Ilford, Barking, Newham, and Dagenham.

During their investigation, journalists contacted the authors of the advertisements posing as potential renters. One property owner in Walthamstow, when asked about the possibility of a non-Muslim moving in, answered with a short "no" and hung up. Another landlord offering a room in Barking for £850 per month, when asked a similar question, simply told the caller to "clear off".

Reform UK party representative Robert Jenrick called the current situation disgusting and emphasized that such actions would have caused a nationwide scandal if Muslims themselves had been victims of discrimination. According to him, no religious group should have privileges for such segregation in modern society.

Facebook administration, after media inquiry, removed some pages that offered housing with the label "preferably for Muslims."

Representatives of the Gumtree platform stated that their policy prohibits illegal discrimination, but noted that rules for renting rooms in shared houses, where tenants share a kitchen or bathroom with the owner, may be less strict.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Britain banned entry to a US activist for criticizing Islam and migration.

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