A housing applicant in Germany repeatedly received rejections when applying for rental properties under their real name, which indicated a foreign background. However, when identical applications were submitted using German-sounding surnames, while keeping the same income, profession, and household composition, the applicant received invitations to viewings.

As a result, the applicant filed a lawsuit against a real estate agency, claiming discrimination based on their name. The Federal Court of Justice of Germany (BGH) ultimately confirmed that such practices violate the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) and constitute discrimination on the grounds of ethnic origin.

📊 Following the court’s decision:

— refusing to rent a property based on a person’s name was declared unlawful;
— liability may extend not only to property owners but also to intermediaries;
— the real estate agency was ordered to pay compensation of €3,000 to the claimant.

📌 The ruling reinforces the principle that tenant selection criteria must be objective, such as income level, creditworthiness, or household composition, and must not be based on a person’s name, origin, or ethnicity.

The case is not an isolated incident. According to Germany’s Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes), the housing sector is among the areas where discrimination based on ethnic origin is reported most frequently. In some years, it accounts for up to 25–30% of all complaints related to ethnic discrimination.

📑 Field experiments also confirm the existence of a systemic issue. In a study conducted by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), identical applications were sent to landlords using different names. The results showed that candidates with German-sounding names received 20–30% more responses than applicants with foreign-sounding names.

Similar findings are reflected in reports by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). These reports indicate that across EU rental markets, including Germany, applicants with foreign names systematically receive fewer invitations to viewings, even when their financial profiles are identical.

🏙️ The issue is further intensified by structural conditions in the German housing market. In major cities such as Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg, competition for rental properties remains extremely high. In popular segments, a single apartment may attract between 20 and 80 applications, creating conditions for informal selection and increasing the risk of discriminatory practices.

⚠️ In this context, the Federal Court’s decision establishes an important precedent. It not only confirms the existence of discrimination but also demonstrates that such cases can be successfully challenged in court. At the same time, liability does not automatically fall on intermediaries. If an agency can prove that the selection criteria were set by the property owner, the owner may be held responsible for compensation.