Housing benefits discrimination court case

[askingforsister]

I'm trying to help my disabled sister buy a home.

She's in receipt of legacy benefits. ESA support group and PIP. We can help her with giving some money as a gift but not enough to buy outright. The local council referred her to a shared ownership scheme and told us she'd be eligible under the HOLD scheme.

She was advised by the council that mortgage lenders have to accept housing benefit as her income for the rent share of the shared ownership property. Apparently there was a court case last year?

Does anyone know if this is right? Two lenders have rejected her saying she can't afford the rent part of the shared ownership. They're refusing to include housing benefit as her income (to pay the rent). In case relevant, she'd be buying in the same local authority where she is now and won't need to change onto universal credit.

I think the council is referring to a case heard in York last year. A single mother had applied to rent a property and was told her application would not be considered because she was on housing benefit. She took legal action against the letting agent and the court decided this practice was indirect sex and disability discrimination.

This was followed by a case in Birmingham, Tyler v Paul Carr Estate Agents. The plaintiff, Stephen Tyler, had been told by the estate agents that they did not consider housing benefit as income when determining affordability. This was also classed as indirect disability discrimination.

Shelter were involved in both cases. I would suggest your sister contacts them.

england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/how_to_challenge_dss_discrimination

My Safe Home work in partnership with HOLD to secure mortgages for people in your sister’s position - get in contact with them: mysafehome.info

Alternatively, she needs a specialist broker who knows which lenders will work with her financial situation. None of the court cases which ruled the “no DSS” rule discriminatory applied to mortgage lenders not considering benefits as income.

@ComtesseDeSpair

My Safe Home work in partnership with HOLD to secure mortgages for people in your sister’s position - get in contact with them: mysafehome.info

Alternatively, she needs a specialist broker who knows which lenders will work with her financial situation. None of the court cases which ruled the “no DSS” rule discriminatory applied to mortgage lenders not considering benefits as income.

No, they didn't as the defendants in both cases were letting agents. Mortgage lenders were not represented. However, these cases resulted in most mortgage lenders removing "no DSS" conditions from their buy-to-let mortgages.

As the OP says the lenders are refusing to consider housing benefit for the rental part of the shared ownership deal, I think there is a reasonable chance the courts would take the view that the earlier judgements apply. However, getting a judgement would take time so I agree that finding a lender that will work with the OP's sister is the best solution to get the situation sorted out quickly.

Having said that, if the OP or her sister want to contact Shelter, they may want to help her take legal action against the lenders. The OP can do that as well as seeking an alternative lender.