Housing and private landlords and parent carers

[rabbitheadlights]

@MNHQ if there is a more appropriate board for this then please move it but I couldn't find one.

What is with private landlords and families with a parent carer?

We are looking to move but every time I'm speaking to a landlord/agent everything goes swimmingly until I say that I'm a full time carer to DS who is autistic and has other cognitive disabilities. All of a sudden they stop responding to emails etc. I always make it clear that household income is more than adequate, and DP works full time etc but it seems as soon as they find that I don't technically work ... It's an outright no.

Any advice or insight out there?

I would suspect its not your lack of employment, but a fear of your autisitic DS damaging the property.

Though it is illegal to discrimate in this way, its hard to prove, so I would perhaps rephrase your role as SAHM for school age child.

The disability is irrelevant.

You know I hadn't even thought of that, DS isn't destructive in any way so it really hadn't occured to me that people may have that perception. Thanks.

I would say this is disability discrimination.
See link below for details
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/discrimination-in-housing/

Yes don’t tell them about being a carer. You shouldn’t have to hide it, it’s not fair. But life in general isn’t fair.

@pomacentrus

I would suspect its not your lack of employment, but a fear of your autisitic DS damaging the property.

Though it is illegal to discrimate in this way, its hard to prove, so I would perhaps rephrase your role as SAHM for school age child.

The disability is irrelevant.

This was my first thought as well. It’s really, really rubbish if that is the case! I agree to go it’s full time Mum to a school age child instead of going into any further detail.

Maybe they are worried about neighbours complaining.

There have been many threads on here where the op is complaining about the noise an autistic child next door makes.

Don't mention the autism. It's none of their business.

Why would you give such personal information about your son? Surely you are either 'employed' or 'sahp'?

Far too much information for a landlord! You are not a lodger, you are trying to rent a property!

There is no need to disclose this, you are providing them with a reason to (totally unfairly) discriminate

I've always found it best to keep landlords at arms length.

I had to explain not working so said I was a carer for DS, it never occured to me that it would be an issue.

I wouldn’t say he was autistic. Sadly, I think that’s their problem not your employment.

If I was a landlord I'd be wondering if your DS was prone to violent / destructive meltdowns - that could easily cause more damage than the deposit would cover. If there's other families lining up that look less complicated...

I agree - rephrase it as being a SAHP

We rented out the ex family home to a family with an autistic teenager. The house had just been completely refurbished and teenager picked lots of the new wallpaper off the walls, broke doors, broke glass, pulled a radiator off a wall causing leaks in upper and lower rooms plus other stuff.

The family paid for repairs after our agent did his 6 monthly inspection.

It wasnt ideal, but we were ok about it all as the house was put back to how it was. Not sure if it would have been without inspections by the agent though. Radiator had been off for two weeks (they said) when agent inspected and had leaked quite a lot .

I'm obviously fairly naive on this front, I will go with the SAHP. It would just never have occured to me to be anything other than open.

Gosh @Mosaic not ideal at all. We are currently in a HA property but it's just not big enough and have been told the wait will likely be 5-7 yes for something bigger otherwise I wouldn't even consider moving.

@rabbitheadlights

Gosh *@Mosaic* not ideal at all. We are currently in a HA property but it's just not big enough and have been told the wait will likely be 5-7 yes for something bigger otherwise I wouldn't even consider moving.

Hi OP, just how crowded is your HA home? Is there any way to divide the space differently or create more space rather than move?

If you have a secure tenancy in HA, I'd be very reluctant to move into private rented. As you've found, private landlords can have the pick of tenants in many areas, and if you are not 'straightforward' or seem more of a risk of not paying rent or damaging the property, many landlords will choose someone else. It sucks.

@1000bicyclesinNanjing unfortunately we are VERY overcrowded, there is just no other way out.

As pp have said it’s probably your son - don’t mention it at all.

I'd say you're a SAHM as well.

I encountered similar when letting agents asked if any household member received benefits and I said my husband did (disability), despite me being in full-time employment.