What the law says, in plain terms
- Refusing a service offered to the public, such as a publicly advertised flat, because of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation can be a criminal offence (art. 261bis StGB). Whether every single refusal falls under it is not settled in the case law.
- A refusal for racist reasons also violates the applicant's personality rights (art. 28 ZGB).
- The equality clause of the Federal Constitution (art. 8 BV) binds the state. Between private parties there is no general ban on choosing tenants by age, gender, family status or nationality.
- What a landlord may ask is limited by data protection: no questions about marital status, religion or nationality as such on the application form (EDÖB leaflet of 15 July 2025).
- If a decision is taken by software alone, the person must be told and can ask for it to be reviewed by a person (art. 21 DSG). When a person makes the final choice, as with aptari, the decision is not automated in that sense.
What discrimination looks like in practice
- Direct: rejecting applicants from a specific country, religion or family status
- Indirect: neutral-seeming criteria that end up excluding a protected group disproportionately
- Through ranking software: a model that quietly stands in for protected characteristics (postcode, name, language)
- Through questioning: asking questions that signal the criterion will be used
How to choose fairly
- Use objective criteria only · income, documents, fit to the listing, references · and write them down
- Keep a record of every decision with the inputs and the reason
- Make sure a person makes the final call, not the software alone
- Block prohibited filters before a listing goes live
- Be able to explain every score to the applicant
How aptari keeps it fair
aptari does not read protected characteristics for the Match Score: nationality, religion, age and gender are never used. It looks only at income, documents, how well someone fits what the listing asks for, and references. When an agency creates a listing, aptari blocks unfair filters, and it keeps a clear record of the inputs and the final human decision behind every score.
What an agency risks by getting it wrong
- Criminal prosecution where a refusal rests on race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation
- Claims for the violation of an applicant's personality rights
- Losing access to aptari for breaking the rules
- Reputational damage that spreads fast in tight local markets
See is it legal to score rental applicants with software and how to rank applicants fairly.
General information, not legal advice.