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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Is this legal (posting for traffic)?

97 replies

Anywhichway123 · 30/12/2016 12:28

Trying to move from our privately rented 1 bed flat to a 2/3 bed and we keep being told 'no children'. I can understand no pets but no children. Who rents a 3 bed house for just 2 people. Is this even legal? I live in the South East.

We're both professionals, trying to save to buy so renting atm.

Both our children are house trained!

We would look after the property because not only are we respectable and respectful we want to live in a nice home! We would replace, repair or redecorate anything that was needed before we moved out.

OP posts:

kirinm · 02/01/2017 19:29

If landlords want to comfort themselves by insisting that by refusing to allow a family they are doing nothing morally unpleasant then so be it. I think differently and I suspect those families who struggle to find homes also think differently.

Basically if you want to be accepted by a landlord, your life choices needs to comply with their requirements.

kirinm · 02/01/2017 19:30

Bad knees - refusing to rent to a family because they have kids is discrimination. Unfortunately it's not illegal.

GimmeeMoore · 02/01/2017 19:59

It's not necessarily discrimination,it could just reticence about mess kids will make

Justaboy · 02/01/2017 20:27

sirfredfredgeorge maybe not that well worded on my behalf but in an area where there is a lot of private rental there are loads of complaints of management companies using the deposit for cleaning and more cleaning and any other reason that can dream up!

Justaboy · 02/01/2017 20:28

BTW anyone know what "Affordable" means at all;?.

HermioneWoozle · 02/01/2017 20:32

It should be illegal for three bedroom and above homes, there should be rent caps and longer term secure tenancies.

Justaboy · 02/01/2017 20:36

HermioneWoozle well you can say that but in our neck of the woods there are very few private landlords (hate that bloody word it makes me feel I should have a Victorian top hat!) The price of properties and the changes to interest on loans is making it a less attractive proposition almost daily.

GimmeeMoore · 02/01/2017 20:37

What about 3 and 3+ bedroom student houses,no kids just adults. Ban them?
Rent caps why?what would that achieve.not all homes in all areas are equal in rent potential
There is a housing benefit cap,limits amount of Hb payments.

Gwenhwyfar · 02/01/2017 20:42

"resulted in LL having to redecorate every room prior to putting on the market"

LLs should be re-decorating between tenants and between moving from renting to selling anyway.

lilyb84 · 02/01/2017 20:47

Oh god. We have to move in May and have a baby and a cat. Getting the fear already...

I can understand and do think it's the landlord's prerogative but I know many adult sharers in their 20s and 30s who do t give a crap about their rented accommodation and leave huge mess / wear and tear behind. But of course as a potential said the LLvan charge more for sharers than for a family so makes sense from their perspective.

Still have the fear though.

lilyb84 · 02/01/2017 20:48

*as a pp said the LL can. Ffs.

LuluJakey1 · 02/01/2017 20:54

There was a lot more affordable housing before a goverment so
d it off so they did not have to maintain it.

LuluJakey1 · 02/01/2017 20:55

sold it off

Gwenhwyfar · 02/01/2017 20:58

"Tesco will charge you more for a family's food than for a singleton's or a couple's"

Not really. If you buy in bulk it works out cheaper per person.

Justaboy · 02/01/2017 20:58

Actually the worst and most messy tenants I've ever had were young 20 something women and they were nurses to boot as we're quite close to a large hospital.

One left several used sanitary pads under her bed complete with fungal growth on that and used condoms stuck to the carpet, bloody gross!.

HarryPottersMagicWand · 02/01/2017 21:02

"Evicted when pregnant? That can't be legal surely!"

Sure is. We got evicted when I was pregnant too. The heating hadn't worked properly for the 3 years we lived there, it was FREEZING in the winter, I had to sit with hat, gloves and scarf on and you could see your breath. When my baby was due in the winter, we wrote a very polite letter saying that as we had a baby on the way that was due in January, we really did need to heating fixing. They responded with our eviction notice. They lied and said they were selling. They even had bloody EAs come around, that I let in and gave us first refusal to buy (they knew we couldn't). The night we moved out, it was 11pm and we still weren't done, we were loading up the car and 3 girls walked up and asked if we were moving out, we said yes. They said they were viewing it tomorrow to rent, for a lot more rent than we had been paying. Utter cunts those LLs were and as our rent had been reasonable for a 2 bed, we couldn't afford another flat and had to go down to a 1 bed whilst I was 6 months pregnant. We were really good tenants as well.

Justaboy · 02/01/2017 21:14

HarryPottersMagicWand Poor you what utter bastards!. What did you manage to find after that sorry event?

Andrewofgg · 02/01/2017 21:21

It should be illegal for three bedroom and above homes

So if you are letting a larger house you can't choose your tenant?

there should be rent caps

The Rent Acts did so well in keeping up the supply of rented housing, didn' they?

Twogoats · 02/01/2017 21:22

I've been on MN a while, and every few months there's a thread about a family being evicted due to arrears/ll selling/ etc. usually the advice given is to stay put until you're formally evicted!

I can understand why (as it's the only way to get a council house sometimes), but I do often end up feeling bad for the landlord!

kirinm · 02/01/2017 21:35

Twogoats - that is only in situations where someone needs assistance from the council. I'd wager that far more tenants just get on and stump up the extra cash of moving without any trouble.

HermioneWoozle · 02/01/2017 21:47

Rent caps and secure tenancies work well in other countries.

HarryPottersMagicWand · 02/01/2017 21:49

just we got a huge 1 bedroom flat. With, what turned out to be a nightmare LL who was horrendous to deal with and several issues with the flat including a very very large and very heavy unit on the kitchen wall that was held onto a plasterboard wall with 2 small nails. The whole thing came crashing down at 3am when DS was about 5 days old. Right where I had been planning to park the pram if we went out for a walk and he was asleep when we came back. It embedded part of my little kitchen trolley into the floor and smashed the microwave completely. I was in such a state over that flat and ended up with with bad PND. We left after 6 months, next flat had hideous damp problems which had all been covered up by new decor. The mould growing through the front room carpet looked like grass that needed cutting. We left there after about 7/8 months, thankfully into a shared ownership house. I couldn't face renting again.

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