Landlord: 'Two guys can't live together'

A landlord in Hässleholm in southern Sweden has been reported to the Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen - DO) after refusing to let an apartment to two men.

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"I was told that it wouldn't work, in part due to our age, in part due to the fact that we were two guys. Had I moved in with a girl it would have been okay," said 24-year-old Rasmus Johannesen to the Hem & Hyra newspaper.

Johannesen has now reported the matter to the ombudsman hoping to establish why he was not able to rent the three bedroom apartment.

He said that he has not been able to ascertain whether they were refused because the landlord thought they were a couple or whether it was thought that two young men would cause trouble.

"I was indignant mainly because I didn't receive a satisfactory explanation," he told the newspaper, adding that he was subsequently offered a smaller apartment which he could rent by himself.

But the property firm Fx Fastighets AB i Hässleholm has denied that the decision had anything to do with whether the men were homosexual or not.

Co-owner Tommy Jansson told the newspaper that in fact that would have counted in their favour as they then would have been considered like "any other couple".

"We were scared that there would be a lot of noise in the stairwell, with parties and maybe girls coming and going and so on," Jansson said.

The ombudsman is yet to take a decision on whether to consider the case.