Brown R J & Co

Approx 18 months ago, I inquired about a property to let that was advertised by RJBrowns in Shoreham. The man who runs it is in my opinion, somewhat behind the times in terms of equality - well, his ethics were simply all over the place. As he started to inquire my position, he started to to get a little evasive after I had mentioned that I am a single parent. I told him that I am in full time employment, earn a very respectable salary (4 times above the national average) as I hold a high position, no dents in my credit history, etc. Before I finished my sentence, the chap interrupted me by saying, 'a lot of landlords on my books don't like single mothers as they seem to cause issues in the long run.' As you can imagine, I was quite shocked by his remark and asked him to clarify, you know, just to be sure I heard him correctly. And, sure enough, according to him, single mothers and their young children have a 'history of rental payment issues and don't look after the properties'. Naturally, I did not appreciate being instantly categorised or stigmatised even on initial introduction, however, the man who runs this agent was hell bent on not wanting to share the property information even after I requested for him to speak to the individual landlords instead for their opinion. I also reminded Mr Brown of the law at this point and used lots of fancy words such as 'discrimination' within the sentence just to make sure he understood. As I stood up to leave, I told him that my child was of University age, so, way past the age of demolishing a property and I was willing to pay 6 months rent up regardless of being able to pass any referencing with flying colours. His loss.

In addition, when you walk into this agency, please be aware of the smell that hits you. Mr Brown takes his lovely dog to work with him however, unfortunately, the room and dog, I don't think have ever had a deep clean. And he has a nerve to stigmatise single mothers as being untidy and destructive?

Mr Brown later denied his comments, even after I informed him that I had attended a meeting which was recorded legally prior to visiting his office, but I had forgotten to turn off the recording device after that meeting, meaning his entire conversation was caught on tape.

I did find a lovely property to live in through another highly respectable agent who was more than happy to accept my application without discrimination. I was more than happy to pay the agency fees for all their hard work well, because I can afford it and I pay my rent without delay. Not bad for a single parent, eh?!

Karma, Mr Brown.