Blanket ban on renting to tenants on benefits in rental property ads - lawful?

FBaby

I will never let my property to people claiming benefits including tax credits unless it is towards childcare. I've been there twice and twice ended up with more stress than it was worth.

I hadn't considered the risk of tax credits being taken into account until I let to a family with older children who then left college so that tax credits, which constituted more than 50% of their income, came to an end and they couldn't afford the rent any longer.

The bottom line is that if I can attract professionals who don't rely on tax credits with as secure a job as can be, that's who I'll let the property to. Why would I take more risk when I don't have to? Being a LL is never going to be risk free, but the range of risk is quite vast.

I understand where OP is coming from. Not making clear that people on benefits have no chance of getting the property is helping no one if that leads them to put a holding deposit down for a property they won't get.

lisyloo

AdrianC wrote: »

Can I ask how?

Housing Benefit is means-tested for all, regardless of age. If you're past pension age, then the only way to get it is that's different to non-pension-age people is if you receive the Guarantee Credit rate of Pension Credit, which tops your income up to £250/wk for a couple - and takes account of assumed income from savings.

Adrian - my MIL & FIL were both disabled and received higher rate AA (£85 per week each) which didn’t affect their pension credit.
They got £600 per week between them plus 100% council tax benefit.

Benefits are high for disabled couples (yes they has to pay for washing, cleaning etc as they couldn’t do it).

Owain_Moneysaver

Cakeguts wrote: »

What I don't understand is why you are being asked if you accept housing benefit if the LHA won't cover the rent? I mean it is a silly question if they can't afford the rent so what is the point of asking it?

Possibly because they know they can afford the rent for three months, but it will take at least six months (and nearer nine) to go through the courts and bailiffs to get them evicted (and eviction may mean they get into social housing quicker).

pinklady21

Murphybear wrote: »

Not all bad tenants are on HB, not all good tenants are not.

I am not "anti HB tenants", but I do not believe anyone on that income level could afford the rent.

I'm still waiting for a response to my question "what happens if working tenants lose their job and have to claim HB". You can't ask a tenant to leave just because they've lost their job and the insurance company wouldn't like them

If the tenant were to lose their job, then the chances are the tenancy would come to an end sooner or later, as they would probably no longer able to pay the rent.
As far as the insurance is concerned, I could not start off a tenancy without carrying out proper checks, one of which would be a satisfactory employer reference.

AdrianC

So whether they're on HB or not is irrelevant - so simply don't put it in the ads.

Cakeguts

I think you could put into the advertisement for the property that LHA will not be enough to cover the rent. Just so that it looks as if it is a bit of information.

AdrianC

Just put the rent in the ad. 70% of rental properties are more than LHA. This is fairly high in that 70%...

Murphybear

AdrianC wrote: »

Can I ask how?

Housing Benefit is means-tested for all, regardless of age. If you're past pension age, then the only way to get it is that's different to non-pension-age people is if you receive the Guarantee Credit rate of Pension Credit, which tops your income up to £250/wk for a couple - and takes account of assumed income from savings.

We have too much income for Pension Credit, but small enough for some LHA

FreeBear

pinklady21 wrote: »

But - I understand that a court ruling this year on indirect discrimination may make it problematic to set out a blanket ban eg "No DWP claimaints" in any advertising.

https://www.anthonygold.co.uk/latest/blog/shelters-new-campaign-on-refusal-of-benefit-tenants-and-discrimination/

The case you pointed to was settled out of court, so no judgment was entered either way. Whilst it is true that a large percentage of housing benefit claimants are women, I struggle to see how "no DSS" would amount to sexual discrimination which was the basis of the case in question.

Pitching the rent at a level well above the LHA rate and conducting an appropriate affordabilty check would weed out most of the potential tenants who would likely run in to arrears.

Mela322

FBaby wrote: »

I will never let my property to people claiming benefits including tax credits unless it is towards childcare. I've been there twice and twice ended up with more stress than it was worth.

I hadn't considered the risk of tax credits being taken into account until I let to a family with older children who then left college so that tax credits, which constituted more than 50% of their income, came to an end and they couldn't afford the rent any longer.

The bottom line is that if I can attract professionals who don't rely on tax credits with as secure a job as can be, that's who I'll let the property to. Why would I take more risk when I don't have to? Being a LL is never going to be risk free, but the range of risk is quite vast.

I understand where OP is coming from. Not making clear that people on benefits have no chance of getting the property is helping no one if that leads them to put a holding deposit down for a property they won't get.

You are who I thought about when I mentioned the blanket ban on all benefits. I actually didn't know the complete reason for your decision. We get tax credits but if we ever got to a point where we thought we might struggle paying the rent, we would give notice and move before we got to that point. What sucks more is even after the first bad tenants, you still gave another tenant a chance.

I don't blame you for making your decision based on being hit twice.