We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
No DSS tenants
Comments
-
Hasbeen said:Landlords may now be unable to state no DHS etc in adverts, but at the end of the day when background checks/references from employer/paylines etc are taken into account they will go for who they deem the most able to afford the rent.1
-
7 day you'll be aware MOST UK adults get benefits.0
-
JayRitchie said:Hasbeen said:Landlords may now be unable to state no DHS etc in adverts, but at the end of the day when background checks/references from employer/paylines etc are taken into account they will go for who they deem the most able to afford the rent.
In the end I chose the young couple whose original request to view was polite and where they told me a bit about themselves; where they provided the extra information I asked for straight away; and where they seemed keen and really wanted the flat.. (Obviously they passed all the credit checks and references too; in fact they provided more referencing than I had asked for).I used to be seven-day-weekend0 -
theartfullodger said:7 day you'll be aware MOST UK adults get benefits.
I used to be seven-day-weekend0 -
This is what it feels like to a landlord who isn't getting paid rent.You put your life savings into a bank. That bank says our savings interest rate is X%. One year the bank says we have decided not to pay you any interest without warning and they do that for 9 months. I think most people would be a bit annoyed and would withdraw their savings immediately from that bank and find one that didn't do that kind of thing.What would people do if the bank as well as deciding not to pay interest for 9 months on a whim then also said that they were going to withdraw a sum of money in £1000s from your savings account because they wanted to and there was nothing you can do about it.Both of these are risks that private landlords run everytime they let a property. However if a working tenant doesn't pay the rent you can sometimes get it through an attachment to earnings after they have been evicted by the court. If you are letting to someone who is relying on benefits to pay the rent then you are unlikely to see any of that money.It shouldn't be the responsibility of private individuals many of whom are not wealthy to take these risks. Risks like these should be taken by social housing providers but even they will not house someone who is a repeat non rent payer and who is always in arrears. Those people who are evicted from social housing for anti social behaviour and significant rent arrears end up in the private rented sector. Basically no one wants them as tenants. Private landlords don't want them and social landlords don't want them. They are all going to benefit claimants because they have come from social housing. Those people have caused the no housing benefits in the adverts of most landlords. When someone turns up to rent a house owned by an ordinary person no one can tell whether they have been evicted from social housing for non rent payment or anti social behaviour or any other reason. All the letting agents know is that there is a higher risk because of these particular people in letting to people claiming benefits. There are landlords whose business model specialises in letting to people claiming housing benefit but they will also own particular types of properties in particular areas.There will not be a higher number of properties available to rent for people paying the rent with Universal Credit. They will all just fail the affordability checks. In fact it could work the other way with landlords being extra careful who the let to which in fact will reduce the number of properties available to people wanting to use Universal Credit to pay the rent with screening out of anyone who doesn't fit a very narrow affordability criteria. Because there are now no fees paid by tenants to rent a property it is likely that more people will try to get houses that they can't afford in which case there will be more attention to where the rent money is coming from.0
-
What the government should be doing is scrapping the right to buy, leaving them for people who need it and build more social housing.
Also increase the penatly for not protecting the deposit from 3x to 5x - you want the business then get it right.3 -
HRH_MUngo said:JayRitchie said:Hasbeen said:Landlords may now be unable to state no DHS etc in adverts, but at the end of the day when background checks/references from employer/paylines etc are taken into account they will go for who they deem the most able to afford the rent.
In the end I chose the young couple whose original request to view was polite and where they told me a bit about themselves; where they provided the extra information I asked for straight away; and where they seemed keen and really wanted the flat.. (Obviously they passed all the credit checks and references too; in fact they provided more referencing than I had asked for).0 -
We have had a house to let recently where the next door neighbour works night shifts and sleeps during the day so we automatically turned down anyone who had multiple children or who wanted to become a student again in case they disturbed him. Is that discrimination? In that situation we would not be letting to someone who didn't work under any circumstances in case they annoyed the neighbour. The neighbour is also a private tenant but we are not their landlord. This is just polite to do this.There are multiple reasons as to why a landlord does not want to let to someone with 3 children or to someone who is not working. Not just the Universal Credit one.2
-
JayRitchie said:HRH_MUngo said:JayRitchie said:Hasbeen said:Landlords may now be unable to state no DHS etc in adverts, but at the end of the day when background checks/references from employer/paylines etc are taken into account they will go for who they deem the most able to afford the rent.
In the end I chose the young couple whose original request to view was polite and where they told me a bit about themselves; where they provided the extra information I asked for straight away; and where they seemed keen and really wanted the flat.. (Obviously they passed all the credit checks and references too; in fact they provided more referencing than I had asked for).I used to be seven-day-weekend2 -
Murphybear said:A_Lert said:Since these cases were settled out of court no legal precedent has been set. But the writing is on the wall - these two landlords were spooked into paying compensation after all.When this discrimination is established as unlawful, it is my understanding that the terms in existing mortgage and insurance contracts demanding it will become unenforceable.Affordability has never been the issue. A great many landlords refuse to rent to people claiming benefits because of stereotypes about how those people are likely to behave. And those landlords have been quite happy to hide behind "oh the mortgage says it".
. Nothing was said about insurance and mortgage companies not allowing it.
On this occasion it would seem that stereotyping can work for you rather than against you.
https://www.directlineforbusiness.co.uk/landlord-insurance
That said, if a retired person or someone on disability benefits only had the local housing allowance rate of housing benefit and no means to top it up, it will still make the majority of private rental properties unaffordable for them.
1
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 352.1K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 454.2K Spending & Discounts
- 245.1K Work, Benefits & Business
- 600.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.5K Life & Family
- 258.9K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards