The UK Experience of Tackling Disability Discrimination in the Context of Leasing.

In 1995 the UK enacted the Disability Discrimination Act which, amongst other objectives, sought to tackle discrimination by landlords against disabled tenants or disabled applicants for a tenancy. This paper will examine the way in which this legislation has been restrictively interpreted by the courts, particularly focussing on the recent House of Lords' decision in Malcolm v Lewisham BC (2008). The examination of the issues will focus on the special challenges for the law of combating discrimination against the disabled, including those presented by the differences between mental and physical disability. The paper will present the issues from a property lawyer's perspective noting the potential problems of conflict between discrimination legislation and the more general obligations of landlords to their tenants. Appropriate comparisons will be made with the position taken against disability discrimination in the housing field in other jurisdictions, to attempt to elucidate the optimal way forward. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]