Industry News


Benefits claimants are still facing discrimination by landlords


that imposing a blanket ban is discriminatory and unlawful. An investigation by the BBC into 9,000 property


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listings on the OpenRent website found that about 75 per cent of listings said the landlords would not accept people on benefits. The term “No DSS” is often being used as shorthand for referring to people who are reliant on welfare benefit payments for some or all of their income. The investigation followed the judge’s ruling in


July that "No DSS" rental bans were against equality laws. In the case a single mother-of-two had experienced indirect discrimination when a letting agent refused to rent to her. The mother had ended up homeless with her two children, when her case was taken on by housing charity Shelter and the Equality and Human Rights Commission. District Judge Victoria Mark ruled at York


County Court: "Rejecting tenancy applications because the applicant is in receipt of housing benefit was unlawfully discriminating on the grounds of sex and disability". The ruling of indirect discrimination was due to


the fact women and those with disabilities are disproportionately more likely to be in receipt of housing benefit, and therefore disproportionately affected by blanket "No DSS" bans. And this was, therefore, contrary to the Equality Act 2010, she said.


The case established "persuasive authority" in law


rather than setting a legal precedent, so while it may help guide other courts in reaching future decisions, it is not binding on them. Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity


housands of private landlords are trying to avoid letting their rental properties to benefit claimants, despite a Court ruling


Shelter, said: "The court's ruling should be a wake- up call for landlords and letting agents to clean up their act and treat all renters equally. "We won't stop fighting DSS discrimination until it's banished for good. OpenRent should ban landlords from advertising their properties as 'DSS not accepted' - and remind them of their legal duty not to discriminate."


ELIMINATE BLANKET BANS OpenRent said it advised landlords to assess tenants "on their own merits". Their listings include a "tenant preference" with the option for landlords to tick or cross the description "DSS income accepted". Some websites have removed "no DSS" from listings while others aim to advertise properties which do specifically accept people on benefits. The company said it "fully supported Shelter's


efforts to eliminate blanket bans" but its belief "based on speaking to our customers including surveying hundreds of benefit claimants directly, was that applicants should be made aware upfront of any conditions of renting a property". Some landlords had conditions in their mortgage agreements which prevented them from letting to benefit claimants, it said. "We're committed to solving root causes like


these, however in the meantime our customers are overwhelmingly telling us we should not be pretending the problem doesn't exist," founder Adam Hyslop said. "Hiding conditions of renting over which the landlord has no discretion only wastes time for all involved, and indeed makes the situation far worse for the very people Shelter is trying to help." It said in the past year the website had let more than 25,000 properties to people on benefits and


“The court's ruling should be a wake-up call for landlords and letting agents to clean up their act and treat all renters equally. We won't stop fighting DSS discrimination until it's


banished for good.” Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter


when applying on OpenRent, tenants were always given the chance to explain their particular circumstances and suitability. The National Residential Landlords Association's


deputy director for policy and research, John Stewart, said it had "always advised landlords they should not blanket ban benefit claimants" but the "fundamental issue was the affordability of renting". He said a variety of reasons could explain why


rental listings said benefit claimants were not accepted, including: the timeliness and levels of benefit awards; a shortfall between housing benefit and private sector rents; banks and insurers seeing benefit claimants as higher risk; and landlords trying to avoid extra fees for tenants who would fail credit checks and references.


Growing evidence that private landlords are cutting rents


Private rents in parts of the capital have fallen by as much as 20 per cent as tenants leave London and other major cities, and the number of overseas students at British universities is drastically reduced. Leading estate agents say average rents in London are down by at least seven per cent in “prime” areas,


but much bigger falls are reported in areas such as the Barbican estate. Data released by estate agent Hamptons showed that demand from people looking to rent in city locations across Britain is down 23 per cent. Meanwhile the National Residential Landlords


Association is reporting that 50.8 per cent of its member private landlords feel less confident about their prospects, with only 6.6 per cent feeling more confident. This is partly reflected in the numbers of


landlords who are buying and selling property, with 15 per cent selling some or all of their properties and 10 per cent buying. A stunning 72 per cent of landlords have frozen rents over the past year, with just 18 per cent imposing rent increases. Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at estate


20 | HMM October/November 2020 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


agent Hamptons International, said that with many people’s priorities are changing, renters had joined homeowners in the “race to suburbia”, in search of larger properties, with gardens and other facilities which they could not afford in city centre locations. Other factors helping to push down rents are


corporate relocations being put on hold in the wake of the pandemic and Airbnb investors, starved of tourists, deciding to put their flats on to the longer- term rental market. The sharp decline in the number of overseas


students is one of the main factors behind the current glut of rental properties in the capital and other major cities like Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and Sheffield. The student market has become increasingly important to London-based and other metropolitan landlords.


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