To think that landlords shouldn't be discriminating against people on benefits?

[Asha0med]

I'm a lone parent with a disabled child who requires me to care for him full time, for this reason I'm unable to work.

It's not that I don't want to have a job, I've worked full time since leaving school but when my child came along my circumstances changed beyond my control.

I'm trying to move as our current home is no longer suitable and keep coming up against the blanket "no DSS" policy when reaching out to letting agents.

I feel ashamed and embarrassed when I'm repeatedly turned away on the basis I receive housing benefit, despite the fact I can provide a glowing reference from my landlord of the past five years. It's humiliating.

Without wanting to sound dramatic I feel discriminated against. It's as though people on benefits are automatically though of as lazy scroungers who just sit on their arse all day or withhold the rent / damage the property. Unwanted tenants. A liability.

I'm a good tenant and a good person. Is it right that I be refused housing on the basis I receive financial support form the government?

An article which echoes exactly what I'm going through.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-53391516

@lyralalala Thanks for clarifying the insurance bit. And a very wise LL you found it seems.

@dontdisturbmenow isn't that discrimination or something? Insurance companies will still insurance to those on benefits just because they worked at the time of signing the contract? No saying they would ever get another job again. No saying the tenant would move in and the job quickly fall through.

What Joan has done with her BTL properties looks a very good way of doing things. Nice one Joan.

I think one of the main reasons many mortgage companies have a particular issue with housing benefit/UC is that in the past, housing benefits has been clawed back from landlords if the tenant has later been found to be not entitled. This was particularly an issue when HB was paid directly to the landlord.

Also there are issues with UC not being paid, being paid late and so on.

I am a landlord and I have no issues with HB but my mortgages and insurance don’t allow it. I would like councils and gov to work with landlords to tackle the issue.

Of course i'll feel sorry for you though. How awful to be able to afford 2 homes, I can see how stressful that is

In my more enraged moments, I think that no-one should be allowed to own 2 homes until everyone's got one!

I lived in one of those properties years ago when we was made homeless. At one point I was sent the wrong bill and saw how much was actually being paid. Weekly rent to us was around £300 a week, but the actual cost was around a grand a week.

Dread to think how much would be charged now, it was over 20 years ago and in a non leafy, high crime area in zone 4 loool

It's a risk factor thing for many. We rented out to a single lady who backed herself up with a guarantor. Should have said no, but was a big softy and said yes. She paid her first months rent then nothing else for six months. The guarantor route doesn't pay up immediately so we were out of pocket and she was living for free. Fortunately, when given the option to pay up or get out, she left without a fight. Now we have a single dad and his wee boy, and it's been plain sailing thankfully!

I think most employers are not going to suddenly and randomly decide to stop someone's wages

Wow, try telling that to all the airline and retail staff who've recently been made redundant.

And the DWP don't "randomly" decide to stop someone's benefit, there's always a reason. Sometimes the "reason" is a cock-up, but not always.

In my more enraged moments, I think that no-one should be allowed to own 2 homes until everyone's got one!
My current tenants will hopefully be buying soon. I wonder where they should be residing until they can? A cramped room at their parents miles away from their job? A hotel?

I am a landlord and I resent the implication that it must be due to “luck”. I bought my first property by working long hours overseas in a job I hated. Some others spent every penny they had but I lived off a strict cash budget and saved like crazy. The job was such high pressure that I nearly had a breakdown but I was determined. I worked hard all my life at school and university to be qualified for that job.

I’m also from a poor family and got no help whatsoever from them. I am a single parent and my ex has taken not given.

I have more luck than some of course but less than others. I have got where I am mainly by hard work which I am rightly proud of.

@AshaOmed @Purpleme12
Basically trying to get you to pay money just to view.
The first one had pictures of a really nice place, perfect location, said it was her mum's place who had moved out to live with family due to ill health and just wanted somebody who would look after the place.
Arranged a time to view, then asked to hand over money to secure it as they have been let down with viewings before and they have to travel far to get there.
I of course said no (but my work colleague when I told her said oh you better do that, you don't want to lose this place! So just goes to show who may fall for it)

Anyway after saying no, they persisted and dropped the amount of money asked for and sent over a tenancy contract, but I continued to say no. I can't lie I was gutted it turned out to be a con.

Only a few days later, I enquired after another place and got a really long winded message from the 'landlord' something about him being in the states and something about religion, his kids, blah blah, would have the keys delivered by fedex for me to pick up and move in whenever I wanted, of course I would need transfer a deposit and a months rent before the keys were sent. I didn't even bother engaging with that one!

So yeh, I'm sure there are genuine people on gumtree but quite clearly there are also scammers.
It makes me sad as people will become so desperate they may fall into this trap.

To the poster who said they would prefer people in secure employment, I am and have been in secure employment for over 10 years, but I'm still shut out.
It's not my fault I am on my own and a sole income with two kids, no financial help from the father, means I have no choice but to receive a small amount of universal credit to help us out. My wages actually more than cover my rent.

I think the fact that rent is so high needs to be looked at, I was paying 1200pcm in my last place and it was a shit hole really and took forever for the landlord to sort any issues, and that was cheap for the area! People have no choice but to claim housing benefit even if working because of the high costs!
I'd hazard a guess that most mortgage repayments are half that a month for that type of property, the fortune that must be spent on housing benefit, when it's needs to be easier to get on the housing ladder really. Something I unfortunately will never accomplish.

Oh and I was not 'entitled' to a council house 16 years ago when I tried as I had made myself intentionally homeless as I left my rented house after not renewing the tenancy because I knew I could not afford the rent.
If I'd have known what I know now, I would of stayed until evicted, which is awful for both the tenants and landlords.
Though that landlord did deduct £400 from our deposit because we kindly repainted the kitchen as my son had scribbled a bit of crayon on the wall, and thought we would do the rest of the downstairs, but unfortunately it was the wrong shade of magnolia!

I cannot understand who Gumtree are still allowing the scammers on there. Some have been doing it for years.

Notice boards in supermarkets and shop windows sometimes have ads for rentals.

@LakieLady

I think most employers are not going to suddenly and randomly decide to stop someone's wages

Wow, try telling that to all the airline and retail staff who've recently been made redundant.

And the DWP don't "randomly" decide to stop someone's benefit, there's always a reason. Sometimes the "reason" is a cock-up, but not always.

Well, both times I've had a tenant on UC they've had their money cut off suddenly and with no warning and I've ended up just not getting the rent. I presume that the removal of benefits was unreasonable as in both cases the tenants got them reinstated.

As for employed people - most of the rental places I've lived in either wanted you to be on a permanent contract which meant you couldn't just be not paid one day . You might be made redundant, but you'd have warning of that and get a pay out. If you don't have that - if you're on a temp contract, or zero hours or whatever, you normally have to pay 3-6 months up front or get a guarantor. At least, that's what I had to do for years, and paying six months rent in advance was a massive struggle at times.

If you're in insecure employment then my experience is that you also face difficulties finding somewhere to live. The only thing that makes it easier for people who aren't in secure employment is that they don't face the blanket 'no DSS' ban that UC claimants seem to. Doesn't exactly help if you don't have 6 months rent to hand though.

People saying move out of London. Aside from the fact that people might need to stay around support networks, for those that want to leave the problem is increasingly UK wide. Where out of London do large numbers of landlords accept dss? I've looked several times over the last few years. The same issues. Especially if there's no guarantor.

The places to rent on that yes to dss website are charging higher rent than other places. Unaffordably higher and definitely above usual benefit levels. (They're also all in the absolute worse areas with extremely high rates of violent crime. Understandably not something a DV victim fleeing needs or a family with a disabled child.).

Generally its quite dangerous relying on ads on a shop window or in gumtree. Years ago this was relatively safe. Now it's full of scammers and dodgy men (one landlord who advertised that way started asking sleazy sex questions when I went to view the flat).

I don't see things getting better. We used to have secure rent controlled tenancies in the private sector. Some were around as recently as the late 90s. Some people still live in one. Lots of European countries still operate this way. So it's more than possible, but clearly not enough people care in the UK. So disabled people, DV victims, those made refundant, and lower waged will continue to face homelessness and no safe roof over their heads.

We’re not on benefits, but we’ve been turned down in the past for having a pet, for having a child, and even for both working full time as the house would be empty all day. Renting sucks unfortunately.

Under Universal Credit an Alternative Payment Arrangement can be made by the LL amongst other people. These can be used to pay rent before any debt is incurred. Maybe look more into this @Asha0med and suggest this when contacting LL's/agents.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-alternative-payment-arrangements/alternative-payment-arrangements

www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-landlord-request-for-a-managed-payment-or-rent-arrears-deduction

Natwest, RBS and Ulster bank have relaxed their restrictions with btl. Coop are also renewing their policy.
Zoopla and Rightmove also have a policy on ads with no DSS.

homelet.co.uk/landlord-insurance/landlord-lowdown-blog/article/no-dss-listings-what-do-landlords-need-to-know

This one explains how the dss system works a bit more, and LL's you might need to read and double check your policies. Might find if you have to claim, if you haven't given them a change of circumstance, you won't get a payout.

www.property118.com/property-insurance-change-tenant-circumstance/

I don't think it's unfair or discrimination. Landlords should be allowed to let to anyone they like.

This attitude is exactly why discrimination law is necessary. It's not too long ago that people like you regarded anyone black or Irish as people they don't like and wouldn't rent to.

Regarding mortgages and insurance, I'm pretty sure that if a contract term requires you to do something unlawful, that term is not enforceable.

I think housing benefit is very stable and reliable Indeed it is. However the amount paid is, in London at least, much lower than most rents. In my London borough for example the housing allowance for a room in a shared house was £77, whereas the average room is £125pw. In response to Covid this has recently gone up, but could well go back down once the crisis is over. Secondly, there is often a long delay and UC/housing benefit tenants rarely have the money for a deposit and rent upfront, they are therefore a risk, thirdly, the rent element is paid to the tenant and not to the Landlord. UC/housing benefit claimants are, by definition, short of money, and there is a high likelihood that some or all of the rent won't be passed on.

I have no problem with UC/HB tenants if they have a guarantor, but otherwise it's too risky.

@safariboot

I don't think it's unfair or discrimination. Landlords should be allowed to let to anyone they like.

This attitude is exactly why discrimination law is necessary. It's not too long ago that people like you regarded anyone black or Irish as people they don't like and wouldn't rent to.

Regarding mortgages and insurance, I'm pretty sure that if a contract term requires you to do something unlawful, that term is not enforceable.

There was an awful landlord in the news a few years ago. He and his wife owned a string of homes. I think it was in Kent. They openly discriminated against non white tenants. They decided there would be spicy cooking smells... didn't seem to occur to them that lots of white Brits also cook spicy food. I was so shocked that they seemed able to do this. They had a very narrow list of 'acceptable' tenants anyway - no children, no abuse victims, no single people, and a couple of professions they took against (think it was plumbers). That's bad enough but I couldn't believe they were were seemingly getting away with open racist discrimination.

Oh I remember that LL. Fergus, moaned that the legal challenges from tenants forced him to sell off a chunk of his portfolio. Racist. Been at it for a few years now. Last year more legal challenges for failing to provide water.

2017 www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-41915889

2019 socialistworker.co.uk/art/47745/Racist+Kent+landlord+to+evict+hundreds