Cyprus-Forum.com

[Hatter]

A friend in Cyprus has just mentioned that when he enquired about renting a holiday home in Cyprus for the summer, he was told by the agency "Unfortunately our agreement with owners is for rentals to foreign guests, primarily British". Is this legal?

[Oracle]

A friend in Cyprus has just mentioned that when he enquired about renting a holiday home in Cyprus for the summer, he was told by the agency "Unfortunately our agreement with owners is for rentals to foreign guests, primarily British". Is this legal?

Hello Hatter

I'm not legally minded, nor have experience of such situations in Cyprus, but back in the UK I know that rental agencies prime-pick tenants and can do so legally with various provisos. I would hazard that a statement such as "foreign guests, primarily British" would not fall under any discriminatory rules as this is allowed with what a landlord can do with his property. Brits could be Pakistani, African, English, Cypriot .. etc. without racist discrimination, so in Cyprus this would serve to delineate the most common temporary customer and not be labelled discriminatory.

A landlord is allowed (in the UK) to target a "market" as all businesses are, and if he wants the assurance of getting his property back by renting to short-term customers, that is his prerogative.

In the past, we have bought properties which target students, others with properties that target elderly, safe retired folk ... that is the nature of renting and if certain criteria are stated it is not necessarily discriminatory but practical .... I would not rent my 3rd floor Georgian flat to a wheelchair user, not because I discriminate against disabled people, but because it would not be suitable or adaptable by conservation building regulations...

[nigeyboy]

What's the problem - not like there's a shortage of villas is it !

[Hatter]

A friend in Cyprus has just mentioned that when he enquired about renting a holiday home in Cyprus for the summer, he was told by the agency "Unfortunately our agreement with owners is for rentals to foreign guests, primarily British". Is this legal?

Hello Hatter

I'm not legally minded, nor have experience of such situations in Cyprus, but back in the UK I know that rental agencies prime-pick tenants and can do so legally with various provisos. I would hazard that a statement such as "foreign guests, primarily British" would not fall under any discriminatory rules as this is allowed with what a landlord can do with his property. Brits could be Pakistani, African, English, Cypriot .. etc. without racist discrimination, so in Cyprus this would serve to delineate the most common temporary customer and not be labelled discriminatory.

A landlord is allowed (in the UK) to target a "market" as all businesses are, and if he wants the assurance of getting his property back by renting to short-term customers, that is his prerogative.

In the past, we have bought properties which target students, others with properties that target elderly, safe retired folk ... that is the nature of renting and if certain criteria are stated it is not necessarily discriminatory but practical .... I would not rent my 3rd floor Georgian flat to a wheelchair user, not because I discriminate against disabled people, but because it would not be suitable or adaptable by conservation building regulations...

I think part of the issue in this case was that the certain criteria were not stated. Targeting a particular market group is not quite the same as excluding another group as a matter of policy. Nevertheless, it is a property owner's prerogative to choose their prospective tenants. But a professionally run rental agency would make their criteria clear at the outset.

As for the thinking behind the criteria, it could be a double-edged sword.
BTW, if the thinking is that a "foreign" visitor is sure to vacate the property at the agreed time, presumably because they cannot stay in Cyprus indefinitely, whereas a Cypriot might not (as if !) then what about a British tenant who is also a Cypriot ? The whole situation smacks of summat unsavoury, methinks.

As for the availability of villas for holiday rentals, nigeyboy, if the case in point is indicative of the prevailing approach, then my friend is on a hiding to nothing, even if there are plenty of villas around the place.

[Get Real!]

A friend in Cyprus has just mentioned that when he enquired about renting a holiday home in Cyprus for the summer, he was told by the agency "Unfortunately our agreement with owners is for rentals to foreign guests, primarily British". Is this legal?

Sounds like a rare case of an honest RE agent who exposed their client’s scandal. Most others would’ve diplomatically gotten rid of an undesirable tenant without them suspecting any prejudice. Proving such discrimination in court would be very difficult and not worthwhile.

[Hatter]

A friend in Cyprus has just mentioned that when he enquired about renting a holiday home in Cyprus for the summer, he was told by the agency "Unfortunately our agreement with owners is for rentals to foreign guests, primarily British". Is this legal?

Sounds like a rare case of an honest RE agent who exposed their client’s scandal. Most others would’ve diplomatically gotten rid of an undesirable tenant without them suspecting any prejudice. Proving such discrimination in court would be very difficult and not worthwhile.

Could be a rare case of an honest agent, though it could be justs as likely a case of a blatant disregard of propriety verging on insult and arrogance towards "naive" locals. My mate, when he finally unscrews himself from the ceiling, will probably do something about it. As you rightly point out, it would be very difficult to prove discrimination in court, but there may well be other ways to skin the cat. Proving summat in court is one thing, exposing the facts to public view is not so difficult. Apparently, the agent gave their response in an email.

[DANGAMAN]

A friend in Cyprus has just mentioned that when he enquired about renting a holiday home in Cyprus for the summer, he was told by the agency "Unfortunately our agreement with owners is for rentals to foreign guests, primarily British". Is this legal?

One word... YES!!!