Is anyone else angry that landlords very often say 'NO CHILDREN' when advertising?

[darcymum]

Somebody I know is looking for a place to live at the moment and is finding it impossible because no landlords want to take a tenant with children.

I was telling another friend this and she said she was evicted when she was pregnant because the landlord didn't want children.

I was so mad about this I started a petition-

petitions.number10.gov.uk/Childlands/

I know children may not be the most careful tenants in the world but they have to live somewhere.

What do others think?

My landlord evicted us when DD1 was 8 weeks old! There was never anything about it in the contract though.

Luckily for us, the council rehoused us quite quickly, but otherwise it would have meant months in a B&B

here's your link

i think that if you have just spent a load of money buying and doing up a property to make it nice you don't want someone in there who you think might trash it. its a business arrangement and you could quite easily spend more in having to put a place right than you got in rent from a doggy tennant. we have young childrent in both our properties and they are great - personnally i'd steer clear of young males, students and people on housing benefit (worried about evicting them quickly if they totally trashed the place). this is our pension and we are not doing it for goodwill

How did you do that? Why can't I get a link up like that? Did you sign my petition?

I need 500 people to sign and they have to respond, probably saying that they are going to do bugger all about it.

I have some places I rent out as well and to be honest children wouldn't be top of my list. I just think they still need somewhere to live though and I shouldn't make it harder for parents to find somewhere.

For me it wouldn't be about damage to the property.
More the responsibility and permanence children require.
Chances are a tenancy agreement is 6 mths or periodic - the children will be perhaps attending schools in the area etc and as a landlord it's a sort of feeling of obligation to them I wouldn't want.
And I think it can be harder to evict a family who aren't paying their rent if there are children living there too.

I think a lot depends on the property.
The flat that we rent out is not suitable for families. Certainly I would not want a child under five living in it. It is a one bedroom flat and very open plan.

It would be very hard to babyproof the particular property. It would be a death trap for a toddler.

We found it a complete nightmare to live with a baby and so have tenants with children. We want someone who will be happy and stay.

Which town does your friend want to live in and what is her budget. Maybe a mumsnetter might be able to help.

She lives in Sidmouth in Devon, I don't know what her budget is.

I think children are much harder to evict (rightly so?) and they do need permanence, but the council just doesn't have enough homes for them so they end up in B&B.

If I had to rent I would rather rent privately than live on a council estate anyway though

'If I had to rent I would rather rent privately than live on a council estate anyway though'

But that could be nigh on impossible if you are in an area without much selection and all you encounter are landlords who state, 'No children'.

You can only be choosy when there's a choice.

Also when you rent privately it's only secure for 6 months at best, so living on a council estate at least means you don't have to worry about getting moved on and your kids having to change schools.

The tenancy laws here are rubbish but they'll never change because the government allowed too many to buy properties to let in lieu of pensions.

You shouldn't be angry about it because it is the landlords property and their choice. If it was social housing it would be a different issue.

If you rent a private flat you are more likely to come across this but large houses really have to be rented to families so the landlords have to accept families have children.

Besides, so called 'young professionals' that landlords of flats seem to prefer can be extremely messy and cause a lot of damage as can students.

If I was a landlord I would ban pets though. As a tenant I will never rent a house after people with pets. I was very used to having dogs and animals around as a child but my parents were very strict about where they were allowed to go in the house (i.e never past the kitchen door).

there are plenty of three-bedroom houses and flats in divided houses that state 'no children' around here.

and they stay on the market. for a loooonnggg time because this area has no students and not many young professionals and most couples don't want to pay extra for a bedroom they don't need.

it's all because property here is seen as an investment and not a home/shelter for people.

this is the mindset and as it will remain so laws will never change.

i don't see the point in being angry about it, either.

(depending on the estate) I would rather rent social housing any day. The only time I ever felt properly secure (other than now, assuming we can continue to keep up the mortgage) was as a housing association tenant. So the heating was shite and the block was ugly but at least I couldn't be booted out on a landlord's whim. I know there are some great landlords, but there are also far too many utter wankers and amateurs.

SIGN MY PETITION!

Don't just get angry.
Anyone signed yet?

I'm not meaning to be nasty, but you are coming across as quite aggressive!

I know what you mean about private renting being insecure, the landlord can just kick you out any time they want.

But what can you do with so few council places. It seems in most places unless you have children (B&B for you then) you need to have very serious problems to get social housing. Its not the mix of people I think it should be.

Who me?

If it is me I'm really sorry I don't mean to. I have never posted before on MN (or anywhere).

Excuse me Darcymum but a private landlord CAN'T just kick a tenant out any time they want.

We had tenants that didn't pay their rent for 6 F***G months and could we just kick them out????? No we bloody well couldn't. We had to first give them 2 months notice to pay their rent or we were going to our Solicitors. We then had to get a court order, a court date, a barrister to represent us. We had to go by the book or face prosecution ourselves!!!

It took an awfully long time. And then do you want to know what happened? Hey?? On the day the court order was due they did a bunk. Left a message with the Management agency, left the key in the property and just ran. If they had only done this 6 months previously when they couldn't pay us we wouldn't have been 6 grand down, and we could have got in new tenants asap.

Anyway, if we had got a court order, the tenants, under law, wouldn't have had to get out until the balifs came round which could have been another 6 months down the line.

So, you are wrong. Private housing is secure as you can stay for months without paying rent until the balifs come to kick you out.

Yes, I am a bitter landlord who has now learnt her lesson and has taken out loss or rent, landlord insurance. I wont bloody need it now though will I.

I wouldn't allow pets either, but children I would allow.

Dare I ask did, you sign my petition?

darcymum - i didn't sign the petition, it's an infringement as my right as a landlord (I don't disallow kids but i reserve the right to!)

What???

I am saying that tenants can't just be kicked out for not paying rent when they should be in my opinion.

I am renting out my house, which we cannot live in at present because my Husband has been posted abroad. We still have to pay the mortgage on it, so the rent pays most of our mortgage.

Is it right to expect to stay in somebody elses property if you can't pay the rent? No it bloody well isn't. It isn't moral.

If we had had to forclose on our mortgage because of not being able to pay our mortgage because our stupid tenants wouldn't pay their rent, they would have been kicked out anyway. By the way, they just choose not to pay the rent. It wasn't as if they couldn't afford it as they were still swanning off on holiday.

No I bloody well didn't sign your petition.
I agree with risotto - as landlords we have a right to be selective.

I would rather have social housing any day. I have just been housed by the council after years of privately renting at £700+ a month. My council house is an upper floor maisonette on the local sink estate but is clean, warm and only £300 a month to rent. In addition it is secure unlike any of my private rented places.

I can't get angry about landlords who say "no children" but do wonder how long properties sit empty if they have 3 bedrooms and there are few students, young professionals around etc. I sometimes wonder just who they think will show interest in a property so obviously designed with families in mind.

I have been a landlord too with tenants who didn't pay rent - took months to get them out but eventually did so. Not paying rent and awaiting bailiffs does not make a tenancy secure (although it's frustrating as a landlord) - the bailiff can come knocking any day but it tends to take months rather than weeks before that happens. Part of the reason I struggled so much financially is because I was paying a mortgage AND rent while my tenants were paying bugger all.