Housing benefit and tenancy agreements

[tickertyboo]

Hello

I was refused a tenancy agreement with a lettings agent because I was on housing benefit.

Are there any other mothers out there who have had the same problem?

I would be very interested to hear. Many thanks.

[tickertyboo]

I doubt any private landlord with any sense will sell their property if the 'no DSS' rule is made unlawful.

I suspect they will simply be prevented from cherry picking who they want, thereby making the private rentals sector a fair place for everyone to rent in; regardless of where the tenant's income comes from.

[swingofthings]

You challenge the right of tenants to pick who they rent their house to, and you'll end up with those deciding to sell as their business will become to risky, which will benefit first time buyers, however, give monopoly to the rest to raise the rent as high as they can, hence making it affordable only to those not in receipt for HB, even if they wouldn't out right say no to them.

[tickertyboo]

I would urge you all to read the House of Commons library briefing paper, number 7008, 8 March 2016, 'Can Private Landlords Refuse to Let to Benefit Claimants?' by Alex Adcock. Reference is explicitly made to indirect sex discrimination.

[tickertyboo]

Thank you BlurtonOnKites4eva, your well wishes are greatly appreciated!

[BlurtonOnKites4eva]

Well done tickety boo for perusing this and I wish you luck!

[IzzyIsBusy]

Just noticed the EHRC dont think you have evidance to make this claim.

I hope you get the outcome you want and better housing for your family.

[IzzyIsBusy]

No.
All your stats show is that more women than men are the rp.
Honestly i think the "fight" you are prepared to have is well worth it but not by using the false heading of sexism.
It isnt. Men on HB and couples on hb are also refused private lets. The reason is they are on HB it has nothing to do with their sex.

[tickertyboo]

I don't need to 'make up' a sex discrimination claim. The statistics are there for everyone to see. I shall do what needs doing.

[IzzyIsBusy]

They are but that is down to circumstance. That does not make the system sexist.

I agree that any roof over your head is deemed acceptable and that is wrong but it is not because you are a women. Its because the system is shit.

You can fight this without making up a sex discrimination claim.
Shelter are very supportive.
Enviromental health.
And your lical council.

[tickertyboo]

I do not like the way the current 'no DSS' system treats everyone on housing benefit, IzzyIsBusy. I'm glad that you are doing a job which helps vulnerable men to obtain housing.

However, social housing is not an option for all single women with dependant children. I have an asthmatic child living in a damp house, yet I was deemed not to have any housing needs by this sector. As stated before, single women with dependants are the largest group of housing benefit claimants.

[IzzyIsBusy]

Sorry i disagree that it is sex discrimination.
I work with disadvantaged men and a big part of my job is finding them housing.
Social housing is rarely an option as under the age of 35 and single they are given house shares even if they have children eow. If they are over 35 they are only given a 1 bed property and single person HB again even if they have their children eow. As nrp they are not seen as a priority nor are they classed as needing more than 1 bedroom.

They too struggle to find private lets if they are on HB to the point where we have to step in and pay rent and bond plus be guarantors just so they have somewhere to live.

I agree more women than men struggle because more women are resident parents so rely on hb until they can go back to work. However they also have the advantage of appropriate social housing because the children are taken in to consideration as they are rp.

It is not a sex issue both sexes are disadvantaged. It is a social structure issue.

[tickertyboo]

I understand that Swingofthings but that is exactly what I am challenging. You might want to google this House of Commons Library briefing paper, number 7008, 8 March 2016 - titled 'Can private landlords refuse to let to housing benefit claimants' by Alex Adcock.

Interesting reading.

[swingofthings]

What you don't understand is that landlords have a right to rent their property to who they see fit. Being a landlord is running a business. It is no different to banks refusing to do business and offer mortgage to people on very low income. Women are less likely to be able to afford a mortgage on their own because they earn on average less than men, so banks are more likely to make offers to men. That doesn't make them discriminatory. They are entitled to offer their service to whom they want and do so on the basis of risk. Landlords do the same.

[tickertyboo]

Thank you TheBakeryQueen. I will!

[TheBakeryQueen]

I think change is needed too ticketyboo.

I've had a similar experience, it's frustrating and humiliating.

Wishing you lots of luck, please let us know the outcome!

[tickertyboo]

Thank you Pooh2. It's a constant uphill struggle with this but I shall keep going!

[pooh2]

Good luck with your claim. I think it's disgraceful and really unfair x

[tickertyboo]

Single women with dependants are placed more at a disadvantage by this PCP more than any other group. If there were 435,086 single men with dependants on housing benefit then I would accept this was not a case of indirect sex discrimination.

As soon as I uttered the dreaded words 'housing benefit' to the letting agent at the registration process I was doomed. The letting agent and the landlord could have asked me for a guarantor or taken up a reference from my current landlady of ten years. None of this was done.

There are ways to take on housing benefit claimants which balance the risk.

[CotswoldStrife]

Good to hear from a letting agent, thanks MissWimpy.

[MissWimpyDimple]

Look. I'm a letting agent. (Most hated profession on here but hey- i can take it).

HB can be a pain in the arse. They take ages to make decisions, if something changes, they can adjust the amount paid to reflect overpayments and they have a tendency to just stop paying. Not to mention that they rarely pay enough to cover 100% rent and chasing tenants for top ups is difficult and complicated as the payments don't tally. (Rent taken in 12 advance monthly instalments, HB paid in 13 arrears 4 weekly instalments).

If they find the claim has been made fraudulently, what they do is they then take it back by actually not paying other claimants.

For example, letting agents get one lump remittance for 5 tenants who are claiming. Tenant 3 turns out to be fraudulent. HB stop all those payments as in their eyes the letting agent is one landlord and they are recouping their lost money. Just imagine what that does? Letting agent has to pay out to the other 4 landlords.

As usual, it's the few fraudulent claimers who screw it up for the rest.

Other problem can be that if a landlord needs to get their property back and the tenant wants to get social housing, they are advised to stay put until they are evicted by court order, otherwise they would be deemed as being intentionally homeless. This means costly legal fees and uncertainty for landlords. Ultimately, the landlord is the letting agents client.

For what it's worth- I totally agree about your general frustration etc. But I don't agree about it being sex discrimination.

I am also a private renter, a single mother and a HB claimant by the way!

[Jaded2004]

I just wanted to add that I agree it is very difficult when claiming hb. I rent privately and have done for years, I moved regularly in the past and before being ill and having benefits I had a poor credit rating. I have a guarantor. This enables me to have hb but most agents are happy with a guarantor in place. I am currently finding it very difficult to keep up with the rent as hb doesn't cover it and exh has decided to stop paying maintenance which is the only way I could afford to top it up, going for what would be council housing here would be almost pointless as I would have to be actually evicted via court order, placed in a b&b (they aren't nice... full of druggies etc) for several months and then placed in any of the pretty awful areas round here with little choice. It's a really difficult situation. The rents around here have rocketed and my rent is actually pretty reasonable compared to what's around at the moment. So rock and hard place really.

[Byefelisha]

DustyMaiden is right.
This is what is on my HB claim form.

[DustyMaiden]

This is from Rentify, adviser to landlords
Landlords and benefit fraud

This is a major issue which makes landlords wary of letting to tenants on Housing Benefit: local councils have the right to reclaim past payments from landlords if it emerges the tenant claimed them fraudulently, even if the landlord was unaware of the fraud.

[DustyMaiden]

I wasn't held responsible for the fraudulent behaviour, just for returning the money, because it was paid direct to me.

I don't know what the law is . I sought the advice of a solicitor and was told this was correct.

[tickertyboo]

Forgive me DustyMaiden, but I still don't understand why you were being held responsible for your tenant's fraudulent behaviour? Could you point out to me the law on which this was based on? I really would like to know.