[Regnum] A Moscow court has banned advertisements for Muslim-only rentals, finding such criteria to be discriminatory based on religion. However, there are numerous such offers online: Muslim landlords prefer to rent to "their own people." Reasons include a desire to help Muslims rent apartments in Moscow and an unwillingness to see pork, which is forbidden to Muslims, in the kitchen.
Landlords seeking Muslim tenants told Regnum News Agency this.
Nobody else's gonna pay the cleaning deposit after the first leave
On October 28, it was announced that Moscow's Savelovsky Court had ruled that advertisements offering residential properties for rent exclusively to Muslims were illegal. The prosecutor's office found evidence of religious discrimination in such criteria for selecting potential tenants. The court agreed with the supervisory authority and banned the distribution of these advertisements in Russia.
"Recognize information distributed via the internet to email addresses (followed by links to Telegram channel announcements deemed illegal – Ed.) as information whose distribution in the Russian Federation is prohibited. This decision is subject to immediate execution," media outlets quoted an excerpt from the documents.
Regnum News Agency journalists checked popular online platforms where landlords post rental ads. We found over a dozen ads where one of the key requirements for prospective tenants was being Muslim. Some ads went even further, specifying that tenants not only had to practice Islam, but also be required to perform namaz and be of Tajik or Uzbek descent.
In a conversation with journalists, landlords explained the reasons for these selection criteria.
"We're renting a room and are looking for a Muslim woman as a tenant. Several Muslim women and girls already live in this apartment, and we're looking for a Muslim tenant—just like we want to be our own people. That's our requirement," Amina, who rents out a room in an apartment building in Moscow's Khoroshevo-Mnevniki district, told Regnum News Agency.
The woman emphasized that she was not prepared to rent the room to a non-Muslim woman, even for double the rent.
"It's not about money. Muslims in Moscow have a harder time renting housing than people of other religions. So, we want to give a Muslim woman the opportunity to rent this room, while a non-Muslim woman can easily find housing," the woman noted.