Irish Equality Commission welcome new MyHome.ie procedures on property ads

Property website MyHome.ie has announced the introduction of new procedures to review property advertisements which have the potential to breach equality legislation.

Following engagement with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, MyHome.ie has developed practical methods to identify, monitor and block discriminatory advertising on its website.

The Managing Director of MyHome.ie, Angela Keegan said the company was adopting a proactive approach to the new legislation. She also said MyHome.ie was looking forward to working with the IHREC to ensure discriminatory ads did not appear on the site.

Key aspects of the MyHome.ie system include a two-tiered system for checking advertisements published on its website, through both a manual, and auto-check system.

Specifically, the auto-check system will filter “trigger” words and phrases that could be in contravention of equality legislation.

MyHome.ie has also put in place investigation, reporting and take-down procedures where discriminatory ads are identified, both pre and post-publication.

Full details of the ‘Property Advertisement Equality Guidelines’ are available here

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (the ‘Commission’) has today welcomed the procedures.

The Commission said it hopes that this initiative by a major player in the property advertising market will not only help ensure compliance on the MyHome.ie website but will also create an impetus for other advertisers/publishers/property agents – big and small – to put in place practical measures and systems to ensure that people seeking rental properties are not unlawfully discriminated against.