Case studies wanted- Have you had difficulty finding somewhere to rent or been given notice because you had children.

[darcymum]

Hi, I'm not a student or anything sensible like that, but I am on a one man mission to change the law.

In the UK it is legal for a landlord to discriminate against people with children when renting out a property. I can find no other country so far that allows this. It causes hardship for people and I want the government to change the law and ban this sort of discrimination.

If you have been effected by this or have a comment, please leave a post and I will try to get in touch with you about it.

Thanks
I have also stared a petition if you want to sign it, link below.
please sign

Bumping for you, darcy .

Go on expat sign the petition, I have two goals, getting the law changed and getting you to sign the petition. I think the second will the harder.

I've given up on rental laws in this country, darcy. Things will never change here.

I already signed the petition, but in fact have had no problems finding good, private rented accommodation with children - though the first time, the younger was in P7/Y8, so not terribly young.

Is this something that perhaps varies by area? I'm in rural-ish Scotland, and have lived in three different rented places. The first was only for a year, and we knew that when we signed up (landlady wanted the house back for her DS and family). The second house we stayed in for four or five years, and only moved on because I spotted somewhere better in the paper. Been here over four years now - and we have pets! (2 dogs, 2 cats).

Is it perhaps also a DSS issue? (I receive no benefits.)

Good mission Darcey. I wasn't allowed to view a house a few weeks ago as the landlord didn't allow children. I was stunned, had no idea this was legal. I felt so utterly miserable for my child, six months old and already being discriminated against .

I live in the East and its fairly common round here.

I hate living in privately rented accomodation but with house prices the way they are in this area and with no chance of a council house for at least 10 years we're stuck.

Have signed your petition!

I'm in semi-rural Scotland and we were turned down for two places because of having children.

No, not on the dole, either, although we do get working tax credits.

But again, I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that nothing will change vis a vis the rules for renting here.

Would any of you be willing to let me use you as a case study, with real names, even pictures?

My plan is to get a file together with examples of this sort of discrimination and how it has effected people. Some copies of the laws in other countries banning this, copies of letting agency lists show what percentage of landlords do this, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and some other stuff.

I was then going to send it to whoever the new housing minister is, my MP, Commission for Equality and Human Rights, etc.

Getting really demoralised though, I shouldn't be doing this, it should be Shelter or somebody like that.

I have signed it .

We are looking for a 3 bed house and i have noticed a few that say 'no children' which i think is slightly mad as most 3 bed houses contain children.

Anyone willing to let me use them as one of my case studies though?

Somebody posted a while ago that they had been evicted (probably given notice) after having a baby. Are you out there whoever you are? Or anyone else with a story/ opinion.

Come on somebody must be willing to help? Sign the petition at least anyone?

This hasn't affected me directly but think that what you are doing is very important and have signed the petition.

Good luck and I hope you can bring to an end this discrimination.

Thanks, I am feeling very demoralised so could do with some encouragement.

We were evicted after having a baby. DD1 was under 5 months at the time.
The landlord said that he didn't want children in his flats.

It wasn't in the tenancy agreement, but then he never got his fireplaces/gas appliances checked out either and I ended up in hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning... (whooole other story!)so he obv wasn't great!

Thanks Stretch, I have heard quite a few stories like yours now. Would you be willing to email me and tell me the full story and possibly let me use it?

Anyone else have a an opinion? Even reasons why a landlord should be able to evict people for having a child, or not house them in the first place?

Credit check comes back as unsatisfactory which would put me off taking people as tenants, with children or not, or they don't pay the rent for a while and have to be evicted to regain the property.

I think a variety of things come into play with who you let to. For me, the property I let is my family home, as we are abroad with HM Forces. I am emotionally attached to it, and am fond of my neighbours, so I tend to let to quiet, older people who won't upset the apple cart, and will look after the house as I will be going back to live there eventually. I have let to a young family and would not say no children except if my letting agent advised me not to accept a particular tenant/family.

If people own a property, then we can choose who we rent to. If you want legislation on this, then some will withdraw their properties from the market and there will be less housing stock to rent. I don't think it is unreasonable to ask for a larger deposit when there are kids - I wouldn't want to have to pay to redecorate because of crayon/paint on the carpet that wouldn't come out, or permanent marker on the emulsion.

When we moved from Scotland to England, 9 years ago we only had dd who was 2.5 yrs old. Dh signed for the lease for the property we were moving into and clearly told the rental agent we had a child (dd and I were still in Scotland at this time). The landlord's mother lived in the property next door, the property was also behind the landlords fabric shop. The first morning I was walking out and met the landlord for the first time, he seemed surprised we had a child and said he had specified to the rental agent no children. I crapped myself all day that we were going to be evicted. I met the landlords mother the next day and she said not to worry, her son didn't want children there, as he had concerns about a child running around whilst they were taking shop stock through a passageway between the houses and the shop but we would not be evicted. I actually went on to have a fantastic relationship with the mother. Because dd was also very young, she was never outside on her own and it was in the centre of town so I took her to lots of parks etc, we were only staying for 6 months too. When the house was being advertised again though for new tenants it was very clearly stated in the advert no children.

scaryteacher - you wouldnt have to pay for it, either they would have to carry out the repairs/redecorating before they left or you would deduct it from their deposit.

when needing a bigger flat in london advert said no kids, but the agent said no probs, ll only wanted to avoid having a large family in the flat. we are in 3 years now and ll is happy as we pay rent promptly and keep the property in good order.

I know that sb6699, but that's why I'd want a larger deposit.

10 years ago I split up with ex-DP and took my 3 year old DS to live with my mother for several months while I sorted myself out.

I eventually found a well-paid job back in London which I could do from home while looking after DS. I signed a lease on a flat, only to be informed just 10 days before I was due to move in that the landlord had backed out of the deal. He decided he wasn't prepared to let his property to a single mother, even though I had passed all the credit checks, had savings and could provide excellent work and bank references. In desperation, because I had booked the removal company, signed work contract etc, I offered to let him have 3 month's rent as a deposit, and my mother also offered to act as a guarantor, but he told the letting agent that he just didn't want "that sort of person" as a tenant. I was 39 BTW.

I can honestly say my life could have been wrecked by this miserable bastard. I worked in a very specialist field back then (long hours, macho non-family-friendly work culture ) with virtually no opportunities for part-time or flexible work and the job offer was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. He knew all this because I threw my dignity to the wind and begged and pleaded with him to reconsider.

It was probably one of the most stressful experiences of my life. The letting agent was wonderful though, she moved heaven and earth to help me and within a week, managed to find me a much nicer flat for the same rent.

I married DH 3 years later, and we continued to rent from private landlords. We had to move 4 times in 5 years. I would estimate that around 20-25% of the rental properties we enquired about in London stipulated no children.

Have signed petition!