What to Do If You Think You Are Being Discriminated Against as a Tenant

Living as a tenant has a lot of benefits, especially when you find a greatflat and a wonderful landlord. However, that can’t happen always, and sometimes you find a landlord who’s not entirely pleasant, or even worse, he’s actually mistreating you.

In such situations, you should always start thinking that he is most likely doing things that can be considered as discrimination against you as their tenant. But how do you recognize these situations, and what can you do if the landlord is discriminating against you?

What Is Discrimination?

Discrimination is, naturally, against the law. However, not everything is considered to be discrimination in the eyes of the law. According to the Ontario Human Rights Code, there are a couple of instances that are considered to be discrimination against the tenant. The specific situations are numerous, but it’s legally defined as discrimination if you’re being mistreated due to your:

●        Religion

●        Race, color, or ethnicity

●        Birthplace or citizenship

●        Age

●        Marital status

●        Disability of any kind

●        Sex, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation

●        Pregnancy

Additionally, it’s worth noting that the same things apply when they come from other tenants and not the landlord. If that’s the case, know that your landlord is bound by the law to try to do something about it.

Now, the next thing that you should know is that there is direct and indirect discrimination. Direct discrimination is relatively obvious – for example, a landlord refuses to rent you their place because they don’t like your religion. Indirect discrimination, on the other hand, is not so blatant.

We can’t cover all instances of this as they are endless, but we can help you understand it. For example, if your landlord threatens to evict you because other tenants are complaining about noises and the only noise you’re making comes from your children – that’s indirect discrimination against children. Even if the landlord doesn’t intentionally try to discriminate against you, it can still be considered discrimination.

You should also know that some things are not considered to be discriminatory. For example, a landlord can decide to rent all units in a building to people of the same sex. Additionally, if a part of the rental is shared with the landlord or their family, then the landlord has the right to refuse anyone for any reason.

What to Do if You Think There’s Discrimination?

If a situation feels like it can quickly be resolved with the landlord, try to do precisely that. Sometimes it can be a simple misunderstanding.

The first thing that you should do is find out if the situation you’ve been involved in is discriminatory. You can do that here. If you decide that there has been discrimination against your or your family, you may need to obtain legal help.

If you can’t hire someone for legal representation, then you need to try to prove the discrimination took place. Talk to other tenants, ask for information from others, collect all the evidence you can, take notes, etc. Essentially, do as many things as you can to be able to prove that the discrimination took place later on.

We hope the information we’ve shared with you will help you protect yourself in any potentially discriminating situation. If you have any questions, please visit oursite and send us a message.

How to Set Up an Office Space in a Small Apartment

We know that living in a small apartment is often a necessity, but it’s only natural to start wanting more than you can actually fit into that same apartment. If you work from home, it’s absolutely necessary to have an office space as you’ll be able to be more productive than you would otherwise and work in a more comfortable setting.

But how do you fit an entire office space inside a tiny apartment that’s already as crowded as it is? Let us show you because there are several things that you can do.

Methods You Can Use to Create a Small Office Space Effectively

There’s a lot that you can do here, and you can find various suggestions and techniques online. However, we only wanted to give you the best ones, the ones that you can use in whatever type of small apartment you have:

●        Identify which area of your home is underused. Take as long as you need and try to envision your office desk and small office space in a particular corner or another part of your home. The key is to open your mind and be as thorough in your deliberations as you can.

●        When you start looking for a desk, never look for anything that’s not a small desk. You don’t have to fit everything on it; you only need enough space for the things you regularly use in your work. The rest you can fit into desk drawers and shelves, or even on the floor for that matter.

●        If you have a spare closet or at least one that’s not used enough, consider converting it into an office area. You can remove the lower shelves and fit a desk there, and you’re practically set. You can paint it, refurbish it, and improve it to make it look like a proper office space.

●        Small apartments most often have large living rooms or at least a single room that’s substantially larger than all others. If that’s the case with you, consider rearranging the furniture pieces and everything else to create a small area where you can fit a desk. That’s essentially all you’ll need.

●        Opt for a sit-stand workstation. These can easily fit into any corner, and you can start standing while you work. Get a barstool or some other tall chair, and you’ll be able to alternate between sitting and standing.

●        Do you have an end table next to your sofa? If you do, how about removing it and placing a work desk there? That’s more than enough for getting an entire workspace.

●        You can always go for one of those wall-mounted desks which can fit easily anywhere. Add a smaller chair and voila, your office space is ready.

There you have it, at least one of these methods or a combination of a few of them is bound to suit your needs perfectly. All you need to do is spend some time investigating your apartment thoroughly, and finding the best location where your future office space can fit.