German court: Landlords can’t discriminate based on flat-seekers’ names

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has ruled that landlords in Germany cannot discriminate against flat-seekers based on their name. The precedent-setting case concerned a young woman in Hesse.

BGH issues ruling on name discrimination

Germany’s highest civil court has ruled that landlords cannot discriminate against flat-seekers based on their name. The precedent-setting case concerned Humaira Waseem. In November 2022, Waseem applied for flats in Gross-Gerau, near Frankfurt, but found all of her applications were rejected.

The 30-year-old continued to submit the same application documents, but altered her last name to Schneider, Schmidt or Speiss. Landlords then began inviting Waseem to view properties. Waseem demanded that the real estate agents who ignored her applications pay compensation. In 2025, Darmstadt Regional Court granted her 3.000 euros in compensation and reimbursed her legal costs.

The real estate agents appealed the Darmstadt decision, sending the case to the BGH, which has now ultimately ruled in Waseem’s favour and called her experience a “clear case of discrimination”. The BGH concluded that Waseem’s step to make comparable test applications using German names was lawful.

Federal Government Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination, Ferda Ataman, called the ruling "an important signal to the country: discrimination in the housing market is prohibited, and people can defend themselves against it."

Ataman also called for an amendment to the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG). The AGG currently bans discriminatory job advertisements, but not discriminatory housing advertisements.

DeZIM: Racism is rife in German rental market

Waseem’s experiences chime with findings from a recent study by the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM). DeZIM found that “unequal treatment in the housing market is not a marginal phenomenon”.

“People with the same prerequisites are treated differently, based on racist selective processes,” added the study’s lead author, Tae Jun Kim. To conduct the study, DeZIM surveyed 9.500 racialised (“rassistisch markiert”) people, who self-described as black, asian, muslim or eastern European, and German citizens who identified as white or as having “no migration background”.

Researchers also sent out fictional applications for genuine rental advertisements, leaving income and other basic information unchanged, but varying the supposed applicants’ names and interests. Rental agencies and landlords replied less regularly to the supposed applicants with names common in western Asia and Africa, and sent fewer invitations to view a property.

If you have experienced discrimination in the German rental market, at work, while interacting with organisations and agencies, or in education, you can read our article on how to report harassment or discrimination in Germany or contact the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency for personalised advice.