A new test carried out by SOS Racisme, published on Monday March 21 and to which franceinfo had access, reveals that 48.50% of the 136 real estate agencies tested accede to the discriminatory requirements of the owners whose accommodation they manage. To carry out this operation, activists from SOS Racisme contacted real estate agencies in several cities in France by telephone, pretending to be owners claiming this discrimination.
Of the sample tested, people of North African or sub-Saharan origin, even though they meet all the solvency conditions, “have a one in two chance of contacting an agency that would agree to discriminate against them or allow them to be discriminated against”, deplores SOS Racisme.
Because in detail, one agency in four refuses to make the selection itself but lets the owner choose his future tenants by not retaining “the so-called Arab or black profiles in order to avoid neighborhood problems”i.e. 32 branches out of 136. out of four agree to directly select potential tenants on the basis of a racially discriminatory criterion, i.e. 34 agencies out of 136.
“We don’t have the right to do it but I already do it in the selection of my appointments.”
A director of a real estate agencyat SOS Racism
The director of one of the real estate agencies tested admitted to practicing this kind of discrimination herself. “We are in a fairly well-to-do neighborhood and we can’t place just anyone… Well, I completely understand what you mean”.
Finally, one out of two agencies refuses to make a selection on the basis of a racially discriminatory criterion, i.e. 70 out of 136 agencies. Of all the tests carried out, three quarters of real estate agencies recall that the law prohibits all forms of discrimination. These agencies belong in particular to the FNAIM network, but also to Century 21, Guy Hocquet, Stéphane Plaza and Orpi. Jean-Marc Torrollion, the president of the FNAIM (the National Federation of Real Estate) acknowledged Monday morning on franceinfo that the results to fight against this state of affairs were “insufficient” : “51.5% no longer discriminate and this was not the case before”, he pointed out, however. He thinks “encouraging” than “compulsory training introduced recently” produce “its effects gradually. There are 6,200 property managers in France. There are 100,000 people who take care of rentals in our real estate agencies, there is turnover. It’s a long time, but I’m convinced that we are on a virtuous path”, he pleads. Obviously, we can only be angry when we see this result. But I believe that the progress is there and it is significant”, insists Jean-Marc Torrollion.
Three years ago, a similar test carried out by SOS Racisme on real estate agencies located in Île-de-France showed that 51% of them accepted the discriminatory order or were accomplices. For SOS Racisme this testing “demonstrates that discriminatory practices in the real estate sector persist”.
This is an unacceptable situation for the association because some of the agencies pinned in this testing had already been pinned during the operation carried out in 2019. At the time, a dialogue had been initiated to set up training in particular. SOS Racisme therefore calls for a “reinforcement of criminal sanctions in the event of discrimination“, but also the “establishment of a disciplinary order” by restoring “the disciplinary function of the National Council for Property Transactions and Management, abolished by the Elan law of 2018”. Rental discrimination is punishable by up to 3 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros.