
Your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you - yla92
https://www.99.co/blog/singapore/99co-stop-rental-racial-discrimination/
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strider12
I can't help but call BS... I need more testimonials of this situation. This
sounds like 99.co is looking for sympathy marketing or trying to enrage
readers to align themselves with something they are already aligned with in an
'unlabeled' way.. They are purposing creating a site that promotes the fact
'you are unbiased' based on 1 testimonial. disgusting. prove me wrong 99, your
so full of it.

~~~
olewhalehunter
A family member of mine worked for a landlord who was wary of Indian tenants
for this reason: the fragrance of their traditional cooking escaped to annoy
other tenants and also lingered in the apartment even after families would
leave requiring expensive professional service. According to a search engine
lookup this is quite common.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/x3ct2/landlords_ho...](https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/x3ct2/landlords_how_do_you_deal_with_curry_smells_left/)

"The problem is oil that gets into the air then sticks to everything."

~~~
mywittyname
The article even mentions this, albeit, indirectly.

> Reasons cited for such practices range from perceptions of lack of
> cleanliness, to likelihood of damaging the apartment,

Translation: we've had to have an apartment professionally cleaned to get the
cooking smell out and it was expensive.

This is a legitimate concern for a landlord, especially smaller ones. And I
feel like this is something that could be addressed by acknowledging the
concern, then offering something to alleviate it, such as a larger security
deposit. I'm sure they can't do that because it's technically illegal to
discriminate against national origin for housing in most places.

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wkimeria
Heh! My wife and I (she's white, I'm black) unintentionally did this kind of
testing in the Boston rental market in the mid 2000s. It was pretty
disheartening (the weird thing is that once we stopped using real estate
agents and only looked on Craiglist for rent by owner things were much
better).

This sounds like a whole other level and that there are no actual laws (I
mean, landlords use all kinds of tricks in the U.S, but no landlord is stupid
enough to say "Sorry, I don't rent to blacks")

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hackaflocka
Very common everywhere.

I'm North Indian. When I was posted in Chennai, I was told the Brahmins were
not going to rent to me.

Today (18 years later), I shudder a little in the presence of a Tamil Brahmin.

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Smushman
Funny, because in the Bay Area, racism works in your favor.

IE - I am white. Yes, that means I am possibly not a reliable source of income
(I don't live to work, I work to live), I am not thrifty (I don't mind
renting, and I might take out a new car loan instead of buying cheaper used),
my credit score is lower and I have no savings, and I will not hesitate to
bring the law down on you (I know my rights!)

But my wife is Indian.

My actual point is racism is out there, and I think the most that can be done
is racism shaming and try to work it to our advantage.

Studies show it is a natural part of being human - even babies show
preferences based on visible attributes like skin color (I need to find that
reference).

~~~
mcshicks
While I am sure landlords in California do discriminate on the basis of race
and national origin, it's illegal, and has been so for a long time. I'm
assuming the article is about housing in somewhere else, like the UK

[http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/discriminati...](http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/discrimination.shtml)

~~~
moonka
I believe it's about housing in Singapore.

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err4nt
Ugh, I cant imagine how unfuriating that must be! We are all one human race
and we need each other.

~~~
jedmeyers
You might think that, but apparent reality is that no one needs you. Or me. Or
anyone else for that matter. With some rare exceptions, of course.

------
jtlien1
Just wait to you get older and face job discrimination. The wonders of
unenforced feel good laws.

~~~
brudgers
I believe the author's experience was in Singapore. My understanding is its
constitution prohibits racial discrimination against citizens [1] but is
silent on racial discrimination against non-citizens.

Of course, the citizenship of the author or his spouse are not stated in the
article.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_12_of_the_Constitution...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_12_of_the_Constitution_of_Singapore)

~~~
mobiuscog
It has to be silent on discrimination against non-citizens as so many of the
city's menial workforce travel daily across the causeway from Malaysia.

If it gave them all equal rights, the cost of menial labour would likely be
unaffordable.

Add to the fact that Asians are often far more... 'proud' of their own race,
compared to others and the predominent ethnicity of Singapore is Chinese.

------
lyonlim
I think it really depends on what type of property is being rented out, and
whether it's a full unit or a room.

Furthermore, landlords don't choose purely on race. They also select based on
the tenant's profession, or whether they are family members or friends.

Also, both landlords and tenants have the right to be as picky as they want.
Tenants also actively choose landlords.

The truth is, there are many other factors that make a deal. Let's not make
this about race please.

(I know this as I also recently rented a unit, and if you are curious, no, I
didn't rent from a landlord that's my race profile)

~~~
crabby
Let's not make it about race? When the agent lists the property as "No
Indians, No PRC" I don't think you can quite get away from making it about
race.

~~~
restalis
"No Indians, No PRC" can also mean bias on citizenship (i.e. politics)! That
might be especially so when the same (Han ethnic) Chinese from HK or ROC would
meet no hardship. So it may not necessarily be the race (or at least not for
all landlords) as it may be the way they expect that their tenants will think
or behave. It's called Memetics, and until naturalization in a new medium the
individuals may present a higher risk of getting themselves at odds with the
others around them.

~~~
cthalupa
Except no one asked "Is she Singaporean born, ethnically Indian?"

Just saying her name was enough to get rejected.

