The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Antonio Tejeda Encinas €1,200 after finding that letting agent Jack Son Santos discriminated against him by failing to cooperate with his Housing Assistance Payment application. The decision was dated 5 June 2024.
Tejeda Encinas rented a house managed by Santos for about nine months. He told the WRC he had been approved for HAP, which could help reduce his rent, but his efforts to get Santos and the owners to cooperate were dismissed. He said he continued paying €600 a month.
The adjudication officer found that Santos acted as the owners’ agent and that a letting agent providing an accommodation-related service is covered by the Equal Status Act. The officer accepted Tejeda Encinas’s evidence that he was refused HAP and suffered financial loss. Santos did not attend the hearing despite being on notice. The WRC directed him to pay €1,200 compensation.