Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

US black couple sue estate agency ‘for undervaluing their home' on racist base

US black couple sue estate agency ‘for undervaluing their home' on racist base

A black couple in the US have taken the help of law after an estate agency gave a low valuation on their property  compared to that when one of their white friends posed as the owner. 

The couple in the state of California have taken legal action against the agency accusing it of giving a low valuation on their property as the price of the same went up by several thousand pounds when the friend posed as its owner.


According to a report by The Times, the UK, Paul Austin and his wife Tenisha said they had “whitewashed” their home after getting a low valuation of $995,000 (£753,588) on their residence, removing family photographs and stripping the walls of African artworks.

When their white friend replaced them with pictures of her own family and posed as the owner for another agent, the valuation of the property went up by 50 per cent to $1.48 million (£1.1 million), the report added.

The Austins moved a federal court in San Francisco last week and in their lawsuit, they alleged that the property was devalued by the first agency “because we are in a black neighbourhood, and the home belonged to a black family”.

The incident caused an uproar as scores of black homeowners across the US reported about similar discrimination, The Times report added.

The Austins bought the four-bedroom property in Marin City in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016 for $550,000. Over the next two years, they renovated the property and in 2018, the house was valued at $864,000 (£654,372), the lawsuit claimed.

The Austins’ renovation saw the house’s square footage almost doubling and they told the local KGO-TV earlier this year that “it was exciting”.

In 2019, when the Austins applied to refinance their mortgage, an appraisal placed the value of the house at $1.45 million (£1.09 million). But when they sought another appraisal from Miller & Perotti Real Estate Appraisals, they were left shocked, The Times added.

The agent complemented the renovations that the Austins carried out but issued a valuation of only $995,000, making Paul say, “It was a slap on the face”.

The owners then carried out a plan. They asked a white friend named Jan to pretend to be the owner and she approached another agent, staging pictures in the house with her own family. After the new agent saw the home, the valuation went up to $1.48 million.

The Austins subsequently sued Janette Miller of Miller real-estate agency and sought financial damages and an undertaking that it would not discriminate on the basis of race when evaluating homes, The Times report added, saying Miller was yet to comment.

More such cases came to the open after the incident in California sparked an outrage. Several other homeowners also reported experiencing similar discrimination from estate agents. One woman in the state of Indiana, for instance, saw the value of her house more than doubling when she removed all evidence that the owner was black and a white friend posed as the owner.

A 2018 study carried out by the Brookings Institution in Washington DC found that homes in the black neighbourhoods of American cities are routinely undervalued by an average of $48,000 (£36,354).

The total losses for black homeowners on the value of their property are about $156 billion (£118 billion), the study said.

Andre Perry, the author of the report who studies discrimination in housing, said the anomaly in valuations by agents goes well beyond the standard of the home and the adjacent neighbourhood.

“It’s almost when people see black neighbourhoods, they see twice as much crime than there actually is. They see worse education than there actually is,” Perry told the Indianapolis Star.

“I think this is what’s happening when appraisers, lenders, real estate agents see blackness. They devalue the asset. They devalue the property.”

More For You

Donald Trump

Trump announced a series of tariff increases targeting various nations, including key US allies such as the UK and the European Union.

Getty Images

Trump’s tariffs hit global markets, Starmer warns of 'economic impact'

The UK and other global economies reacted on Thursday to US president Donald Trump's newly imposed tariffs, with prime minister Keir Starmer warning of an “economic impact” from the 10 per cent levy on British exports.

Trump announced a series of tariff increases targeting various nations, including key US allies such as the UK and the European Union.

Keep ReadingShow less
India told to prepare for deadly rise in temperatures

The country can expect more heatwave days this year

India told to prepare for deadly rise in temperatures

INDIA can expect hotter-thanusual temperatures this summer with more heatwave days taking a toll on lives and livelihoods, the weather office warned.

The country is no stranger to scorching summers, but years of scientific research has found climate change is causing heatwaves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tower Hamlets secures funding to save domestic abuse support jobs

The planned strike action was called off after the external funding was secured

Tower Hamlets secures funding to save domestic abuse support jobs

Ruby Gregory

REDUNDANCY proposals which would have seen job cuts made to a ‘crucial’ domestic abuse support service in Tower Hamlets have been called off.

Solace Women’s Aid, which planned to make cuts, confirmed last Friday (28) the redundancies were no longer going ahead, following a boost in external funding which followed a threat of strike action.

Keep ReadingShow less
Report reveals Birmingham’s doctors face racism and bullying
Absences have risen at the Queen Elizabeth and Heartlands Hospitals in Birmingham, as well as Good Hope in Sutton and Solihull Hospital

Report reveals Birmingham’s doctors face racism and bullying

Gurdip Thandi

YOUNG doctors in Birmingham hospitals face a ‘shocking’ number of incidents of bullying, racism and sexism from patients and other staff.

The Medical Academy Annual Report was presented to a University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust board meeting, which revealed the data.

Keep ReadingShow less
Former police officer arrested in Rotherham investigation

Investigators believe the earlier offences happened between 1995 and 2002 (Photo for representation: iStock)

Former police officer arrested in Rotherham investigation

A FORMER police officer has been arrested in connection with the ongoing investigation into child sexual abuse in Rotherham, authorities revealed on Tuesday (1).

The former constable, who is in his 50s, was taken into custody on Monday (31). He is suspected of raping a teenage girl in the South Yorkshire town in 2004, according to officials.

Keep ReadingShow less