Copenhagen (AFP) – A group of former tenants in a sensitive neighborhood in the north of the Danish capital are suing their former landlord in the Supreme Court on Friday for illegal breach of contract based on discrimination.

Published on: 06/11/2026 - 09:12

The plaintiffs, seven families from Helsingør, had their leases terminated because the lessor wanted to avoid seeing his housing estate categorized as a “hard ghetto”, thus anticipating the 2030 deadline to change the social composition of the neighborhood.

A 2018 law provides that all social housing projects in which more than half of the residents are considered to be of "non-Western" origin must be rebuilt and renovated, while changing their social composition by 2030.

Herald of a strict immigration policy for almost 30 years, Denmark had justified the introduction of this law, never called into question, by the fight against segregation and "parallel societies" in disadvantaged neighborhoods, many of which faced high crime rates.

In Helsingør, the landlord Boliggården announced in early 2020 that it would thoroughly renovate seven stairwells, or 96 housing units.

To do this, he terminated the leases of tenants, the vast majority of foreign origin, by offering to relocate them elsewhere.

“Leave by force”

“They wanted to make us leave by force when we defended other solutions,” recalls Riad, 33 years old.

“The documents explicitly mention the targeting of non-Western residents. It’s discriminatory,” explains the former tenant to AFP.

“There must be room for everyone in social housing, regardless of social background, skin color, ethnic origin, level of education, etc.,” he says.

Before the Supreme Court, with his co-plaintiffs, he wants to prove that the termination of the leases is illegal because it constitutes discrimination based on ethnic origin.

So far, however, the courts have ruled in favor of the lessor, arguing that the expression "immigrants and descendants of people from non-Western countries" does not refer, in itself, to a group with the same ethnic origin, and that it is therefore not a violation of the law on equal treatment.

For Eddie Khawaja, the families' lawyer, the question is simple: "it is a question of knowing whether the criterion of the origin of the tenants is neutral or not".

- "Good hope" -

In Denmark, some 11,000 people are expected to leave their apartments to be relocated elsewhere by 2030 to enforce the legislation, according to associations.

In December 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled, in another case brought by tenants of a Copenhagen housing estate, that "it is up to the national judge to examine whether this criterion (of 50%, editor's note) establishes a difference in treatment based on the ethnic origin of the majority of the inhabitants of these areas, thus resulting, for their inhabitants, in less favorable treatment".

For Mr. Khawaja, this judgment changes the situation because the decision of the Danish Supreme Court, the national court, will be considered as an arbitration on this criterion.

“I have confidence in the judges and I’m pretty hopeful,” he said.

If the Supreme Court rules in their favor, the families should be relocated to housing similar to those they were forced to leave.

“I really hope that the Supreme Court will rule in our favor and that perhaps this will be the beginning of a real change in the harsh and discriminatory policy carried out against Danes of other ethnic origins and immigrants,” hopes Riad.

© 2026 AFP

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