Trade Me listing forbidding Indian and student flatmates removed

Photo / File

A discriminative Trade Me listing seeking flatmates at an Invercargill property received dozens of complaints before it was taken down.

The owner-occupier of the four-bedroom property in Otatara, Invercargill, posted to Trade Me on August 1 seeking new flatmates.

Ideal candidates were sought as "young professional, tidy, easy going, similar age" to the 23-year-old owner.

However, it was also demanded "no students or Indians" apply on the listing.

Trade Me spokeswoman Millie Silvester said the listing received 35 complaints before the user deleted the post on October 1.

She said Trade Me will remove anything they deem to go too far on listings and flatmate advertisements can often be tricky to govern.

"Flatmates-wanted ads are tricky as you are allowed to be very specific about who you want to live with.

"For instance, a young female member can say she wants a 25-30 year-old female flatmate.

"It is important that when a member lists a room in their house they're honest so everyone is on the same page and the member doesn't waste anyone's time.

"However, we don't want our members to be dicks when writing their ads," Silvester said.

Section 53 of the Human Rights Act 1993 deems it to be unlawful for any person to deny any person the right to occupy any residential accommodation.

However, section 54 states nothing in section 53 applies to shared residential accommodation.