"They prefer to lose out on rental income over renting to foreigners"

Julien and Clara (not their real names) have been working in Luxembourg's real estate sector for years, and agreed to talk to our colleagues at RTL 5 Minutes about a topic that is rarely discussed in the media: discrimination in the rental market.

They agreed to share their experiences as they both faced shocking situations during their career. Clara gives the examples of landlords who don't want to rent to Indians "because they cook with curry," or another who "prefers to lose out on rental income over renting to Africans".

The discrimination does not stop there. "We have owners who tell us: 'no Indians, no Africans, no Arabs,'" confides Julien. He continues: "We have reached a stage where some contacts call us and we are told, 'before going further, he is an Indian and he works at Amazon, is it good or not?'"

But who are these landlords who are more interested in the origins of their tenants than in their solvency? And how do agents react to these kind of queries?

"An open secret"

According to Julien, "they are mainly Luxembourgish owners" and in terms of their reaction, he insists that real estate agents are "intermediaries" and that they have "nothing to say". The owner has the last word. Not that it discourages Clara who assures us: "Indian or not, if the file is solid, it is still presented."

Julien goes on to explain that "it also depends on the level of trust we have with the owner, when we do not know them very well, we walk on eggshells". However, he insists that one should not generalise: "I have many customers who are owners and who are very open and very kind."

He goes even further explaining that sometimes "it is the tenant who is the problem", "people who have a significant salary can be real pigs at home," he insisted.

This led him to tell us about an "other" discrimination that exists on the rental market in the Grand Duchy: socio-professional discrimination. "Some owners tell us clearly 'I want someone who works at the EU institutions or a banker' so if you work in a restaurant ..."

He does not hesitate to say: "A person who works in the restaurant business who has a very good salary, he will struggle more than the others, that's clear. It's always a question of reputation, [there are] a lot of prejudices ... "

The impact of origin

For her part, Clara took the time to explain to us a concrete case where the origin of a potential tenant led to their application being rejected.

"She was African but he was not African, a family with two children, their record was solid ... But the landlord preferred to lose out on rental income over renting to foreigners," she lamented. She explained that the owner was indignant at the fact that Africans are recruited in Luxembourg.

"I was shocked, and finally, I was removed from the property, I had put forward tenants from India, Africa, and Eastern countries. They entrusted it to another agency. " This is apparently the risk faced by agents who do not comply with the discriminatory requirements of some owners.

In an almost fatalistic conclusion, Julien reminded us that in the Grand Duchy "it is a market where we have a lot of demand and not enough supply" and that consequently, "the owners dictate their law".