When a landlord asks for a guarantor because the tenant is a foreigner, does that violate the “Immigration Act” article 62?
Any person shall not discriminate against people residing in the Taiwan Area on the basis of nationality, race, color, class and place of birth.
https://law.moj.gov.tw/Eng/LawClass/LawSearchContent.aspx?pcode=D0080132&norge=62
Same landlords may ask everyone for a guarantor. If landlord only asks foreigners for guarantor then would say yes. Get landlord to put in writing or in a text message.
The last time I signed the rental contract the agent asked my gf to be the guarantor, and she said yes to her. When she told me, I messaged you the agent and said “no, this is very disrespectful, I gave you proof of income, I’m more than capable to pay the rent. if you insist I’ll just find another place to rent”. She immediately relented and apologized.
I would say you do the same but if they insist would you want them as your landlord anyways? Not worth it imo. Just move on.
You’d hope so, but I’m skeptical how useful a complaint would be. I assume the landlord would be able to just say they’d decided to rent to someone else.
It doesn’t look like the act has much teeth anyway. Article 81 says:
When the competent authority receives a complaint set forth in Article 62 and believes that the matters violate such a provision, it shall notify the person who violates the law to take necessary corrective action within the time prescribed in the order. If after the lapse of such period, the person still does not take necessary corrective action, he/she/its shall be fined between NT$ 5,000 and NT$ 30,000.
I’ve seen an ad on 591 explicitly saying they wouldn’t rent to foreigners (or maybe it was Southeast Asians, I forget - it was a few months ago). I considered trying to report the ad to 591, but I wasn’t sure how and whether it’d be useful, then I guess I forgot about it.
If you’re putting in the standard 2 months rent as deposit, then I don’t see any reason to ask for a guarantor. I would just ask the landlord to explain why they’re doing this
I didn’t know about the $5,000 to $30,000 fines to enforce article 62. Thanks for pointing that out.
Are there prior cases of renters and Immigation Act article 62?
My point was more that the law seems pretty weak, with the (tiny) fines as a last resort. If someone reported this kind of thing, I suspect the most likely outcome would be the authorities eventually telling the landlord to fix it and the landlord saying the apartment isn’t available anymore anyway.
it is indeed a sad state of the affairs…
I believe you can sue civilly… @Satellite_TV mentioned a case once where an indigenous Taiwanese person was told that the landlord wouldn’t rent to “darkies” and asked the landlord to put it in writing then sued and won some money
He actually put “darkies” in writing? 
If the landlord explicitly said “because you’re a foreigner” then yes.
Try to get it in writing, and you can sue.
What an Ahole landlord , not renting to the original people’s of Taiwan. He was also a dumbass cause he wrote it down.
I think voice recording people covertly is illegal here or OP could do that. Not sure if allowed and I don’t like doing those kind of things but I think in the OPs particular case it’s morally ok but not sure if legally ok
Sounds like no cases with Immigration Act specifically, but cases of people suing their landlord in civil court. I guess that’s my answer.
Aboriginals. Who by the way many have whiter skin than many westerners who claim to be white. My wife calls me a darkie when I come back from my dive vacations.
This thread popped up when I was googling. I’ve been trying to find a commercial rental, and often times I’m told the owner does not want to rent to foreigners. Today a real estate agent told me that I need to find a place that does rent to foreigners and that a Taiwanese guarantor would be needed. I told her nope, that’s illegal discrimination. But I found this in a government document from the MOI:
Yes, it is illegal to only rent to locals.
The flyer you provided says the law does not prevent the landlord from asking for a guarantor. It also comments that usually a foreigner will be asked for a guarantor but makes no mention whether this is legal.
I believe the anti-discrimination laws still apply in this case, but is not mentioned in the flyer because it falls outside the expertise of the Ministry of Interior.
In any case, unless you can make them put in writing that they are specifically requiring a guarantor because you are a foreigner, then there isn’t really much to go by if you want to sue them.
I know, this is a very touchy subject. For contract with individual or smaller companies, it is very difficult to legally prove discrimination, given the freedom of contract enshrined in TW civil law.
They can just say, u either get a guarantor or I just don’t want to do business (or rent) to u, unless u get in writing that they are requesting a guarantor coz u r a foreigner and only becoz of that and if u were Taiwanese u wouldn’t need that. In that case, u can lodge a discrimination complaint with the MOI, or sue the person/company.
But it is tough.
it is actually the responsible agency to enforce the Immigration Act which contains the anti-discrimination article (art. 62), and all complaints against discrimination as per art. 62 Immigration Act are lodged with the MOI.
i think asking foreigners for a guarantor is lousy practice, but not necessarily discrimination as it is defined by law: you are free to choose another property to rent, and landlords are free to choose their own tenants. in my home country its also common to ask renters for guarantors (but that is because its also very difficult to kick out a nonpaying tenant, the court process can take up to 18 months)
