Norway: Mosque rental canceled

A house owner in Vangen in Voss rented out the first floor of his house to a local person since October 1st. When he found out the house was being used as a mosque for Muslims who lived in the area he decided to cancel the rental agreement, according to Bergens Tidende.

"As as starting point this is a shop location. To have a mosque here is a completely wrong usage. Now there are drawn curtains instead of a Christmas display and it looks a little sad," says Arild Rogde.

He denies that the cancellation had anything to do with racism and has nothing against the man who rented the place. The whole issue is based on a misunderstanding, according to Rogde.

"I understood that he wanted to use the premises as a type of meeting place for Muslims. He wanted to apply to the municipality for a change of use, while I wanted to see about the situation."

"When I understood that the shop was being used as a mosque I informed [them] that this was something I didn't want," says Rogde.

He stresses that there's a big difference between renting out to a public premises and renting out to private people.

"The house is simply not meant for this," says Rogde.

Source: Aftenposten (Norwegian)