that’s what I said basically, freedom of contract.
Being free to choose the person with whom you do business with does not make it legal to discriminate against them based on race or place of origin, which are protected classes in Taiwan.
If I turn down business from a client who yells at me during our meetings, that’s ok. If I turn down a client because they are black, that is illegal discrimination.
Similarly, adding additional requirements for black clients who wish to do business with you is also illegal discrimination, if you do not usually have those requirements for other people.
In terms of legality, the more restrictive law must be followed in cases where two laws contradict each other. In this case, it is legal for landlords to require guarantors from any potential renter. On the other hand, anti-discrimination laws state that you cannot discriminate based on certain protected classes. These two laws seemingly contradict each other, so the more restrictive one (anti-discrimination) applies.
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In practice though a lot is left up to the “competent authorities” to decide. If there is some perceived rationale for discrimination it may not be prohibited (eg discrimination against appearance in the case of a modeling job). Despite the lack of an absolute wording in that government document it suggests that they accept some such rationale.
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Yes, but being good-looking is bona fide job requirement for a modeling job, and therefore the requirement does’t violate discrimination laws.
I don’t think that assuming someone will rip you off just because they’re a foreigner is a legitimate reason to ask for additional requirements when renting to them. Someone renting on an ARC does not pose an additional risk than someone renting on a national ID. Both can be taken to court if they skip payment, and both can be denied from exiting the country at the airport if they have court summons.
Sure. But it’s up to the “competent authorities” to decide what legitimate, bona fide concerns are in any situation. That may well differ from what you or I think, however correct it might seem. It’s a large loophole in discrimination law here.
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True. Most states in the US have their own additional specific anti-discrimination laws that relate to housing and other more specific scenarios, which I think Taiwan lacks.
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Yes, in my experience little is spelled out. Basically if you feel there has been discrimination, you can make a complaint to the competent authority for the situation, and a decision will be made by them. It tends to favor a “discriminate first and ask questions later” mentality, IMO. If there are counterexamples to this I’d like to hear them.
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The problem is that being a non-citizen is not listed as a protected class, so discriminating against foreigners doesn’t necessarily mean discriminating based on race or place of birth.
And I think this is what the landlords are actually concerned about – non-citizens. And language barrier.
But a two month deposit should be enough, and I don’t think they realize how much shit you already have to go through to start a business in Taiwan as a foreigner, with govt approval etc
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Does Taipei City have any specific bylaws to deal with this?
It’s my understanding that all residents of Taiwan are a protected class against discrimination under basic anti-discrimination laws, regardless of nationality.
The following news report kind of shocked me. I have never faced a refusal to rent to me based on being a foreigner. However, there are a couple things that make my situation easier, probably. I speak Mandarin and my wife is Taiwanese.
But, I’m very curious to see if any of my fellow Forumosans have ever been discriminated against renting specifically because you are a FOREIGNER!
https://x.com/taiwanplusnews/status/1729462641377345584?s=20
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I got refused most of the time outside of Taipei when I look for places myself on 591. Inside Taipei it’s better, maybe because I worked with an agent last time and they filtered out landlords who are not foreigner friendly? I can show you many ads on 591 that say no foreigners allowed.
I speak Chinese with a funny accent so most of the time they ask where I’m from, followed by they can’t rent to foreigners. Sometimes I respond with I’m an immigrant not a foreigner, and they said they mean ROC nationality only.
There’s no penalty to discrimination so people do it openly. If they added a heavy fine people would stop. But whoever proposed a fine to help foreigners would lose votes. You could report them and waste many weeks and at the end they don’t get a fine, just a warning, and you’ve wasted your time. Same with banking discrimination, there’s no fine. So it’s whac a mole trying to report every policy at every bank.
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I know of an Aboriginal Taiwanese public school teacher who was refused. Took the line messages and submitted them to the MOI and sued the landlord for a big sum…
The issue is that people don’t know how to complain. See my thread on submitting a discrimination complaint to the MOI
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So what have you dont about it. Lodged any anti discrimination complaints where the landlords will get fined?
https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0080166
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It isn’t that. It is that Taiwan has a discriminate first and complain later type of system
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There’s no fine listed. Can you show me a historical case where a landlord got fined by not renting to a foreigner? If you report them and they don’t get a fine, you’ve wasted a lot of time doing whac a mole complaints, and maybe a pissed off landlord who will keep your deposit if you still want to rent from them. It’s not a good use of time.
I believe the way to change things is to get more immigrants into political positions with a pro immigration mindset and add penalties in place for discrimination. Immigrants would vote to keep them in position.
Just by being an immigrant and staying in Taiwan I’m helping the situation by introducing my thoughts. I’d also donate and contribute to non profit immigration friendly organizations, later on vote for immigration friendly politicians (if I can get citizenship), and help out with any lobbying activities.
It’s Article 81 of the Immigration Act:
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 improve within the specified period in the order. If after the lapse of such period, the person still does not improve, he/she shall be fined not less than NT$5,000 and not more than NT$30,000.
Seems like it would be difficult to enforce in the case of renting though, given the transient nature of landlords advertising apartments…
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I’d be surprised if this was ever awarded to a foreigner, not just in renting, but in everything including banking, all government interactions, etc. I did a google search and found nothing. It should be changed to an instant fine if you have sufficient proof captured, you submit to a government agency, and they get fined.
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“I’d be surprised if this was ever awarded to a foreigner,”
This posted right here in this forum.