2023-11-29 16:46:00
The Walloon parliament definitively adopted, on Wednesday followingnoon, the draft decree aimed at combating discrimination in access to housing, through the implementation of mystery checks.
These checks will take the form of either a situation test or mystery shopping. They will be carried out by the regional administration in the form of telephone calls or sending emails. If the test concludes that there has been an infraction, a hearing will be offered to the offender within 30 days. Then, if an offense is noted, the administration will forward the file to the public prosecutor’s office so that they can launch criminal proceedings. If the public prosecutor’s office does not take up the case within a time limit to be set, the offender remains likely to be subject to an administrative fine in the event of a repeat offense. The sanction might range from a reprimand to the payment of a fine of 125 euros and up to 6,200 euros in the event of a repeat offense.
However, the offender will be given the opportunity to lodge an appeal with the Walloon government. If the fine is confirmed, the offender will still be able to appeal to the justice of the peace.
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“This is a big step in the fight once morest discrimination in access to housing and it is a first in Wallonia. This parliament is growing by putting in place an essential tool to fight once morest these practices and sanction them,” welcomed the Walloon Minister of Housing, Christophe Collignon. “The owner of a property has the right to choose his tenant from among the various candidates, but he has the obligation to make this choice in strict compliance with the legislation on discrimination. It is by stepping up control action that we can significantly reduce discrimination,” he added.
The decree, voted unanimously minus the abstention of Benoît Dispa (Les Engagés), will come into force on January 1.
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