Government claims Renters’ Rights Act cracks down on rental discrimination

What about the discrimination by government?.
LHA Rates force the poorest people into the poorest properties in the poorest areas.
Freezing the LHA Rates means that the poorest people cannot afford to live in the poorest properties in the poorest areas.

Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 17/09/2026 – 08:50
It is only doscrimination if actioned by a private landlord. All government discrinination is exempt.

What about financial prequlification before anyone gets to view a property?

Reply to the comment left by JB at 17/09/2026 – 11:22
The Renters Rights Act does not crack down on rental discrimination; labour’s Renters Rights Act actually makes the groups of people labour were trying to avoid discrimination against even higher risk than they were before the Act, and the government (including Matthew Pennycook) is doing nothing at all to address this by making these people lower risk. If the government goes ahead with its planned private sector database the government will be making the situation even worse than it presently is.

The headline is completely accurate, I am now no longer discriminating between various types of tenant – I am rejecting everyone equally. Once the existing tenants go they are not going to be replaced.

I must congratulate politicians of multiple parties for forcing me into no longer having to worry about picking the wrong tenant.

No problem!!
As long as any prospective tenants inquiring about one of my properties can pass the highest and strictest referencing.
I have in the past rejected a couple because the husband did not want to handover his wife’s passport as ID because of their faith.
So as I said no problem.

Reply to the comment left by Paul Essex at 17/09/2026 – 12:01
You are not alone.

I have one remaining BTL which is available for sale. But if I do need a new tenant, each applicant will be treated equally. Even stricter financial referencing and a higher starting rent. If an applicant knows they can’t afford the rent, they won’t need to view or ask for information.

Reply to the comment left by JB at 17/09/2026 – 11:22
Nothing to stop you refusing viewings to anyone who can’t afford the rent. That’s a calculation that needs to be done carefully though, including the applicants potential benefits income, which may take some time to gather. I think it’s not unreasonable to expect benefits applicants to have evidence of their full entitlement before applying, in the same way that you would expect of anyone else. However, Councils may have other ideas, so if it were me, I would set out that expectation in the advert.

Reply to the comment left by DPT at 12:43
so I am an agent who takes instructions from my clients. I provide a Pre Application form and requests the basic information needed such as Annual income, pets, how many would be living in the property. current landlord/agent and employment details. The decision is then for the client to make after viewing all the pre applications whom to offer a viewing and tenancy too after an affordability check amongst other information supplied So would this be acceptable or discrimination??

Reply to the comment left by Sheralyne Stamp at 17/09/2026 – 13:08
I guess if you’re only passing on information to the landlord, it would be difficult to prove a case of discrimination against you. If instead you’re shortlisting, it may depend on your criteria you use and whether that is published for all to see. If your landlord says no benefits tenants up front, do you filter them out? If they say no benefits tenants when they see your list, how do you respond? What advice do you give?

None of us really knows at this point how it will all pan out, but you may want to check what training organisations like Propertymark, NRLA and others offer so that you have more certainty about your process.