Government vows Renters’ Rights Act will tackle rental discrimination

Reply to the comment left by The_Maluka at 03/08/2026 – 18:06
I used to take single-mum benefits tenants years ago (although only paying me directly) and the problem with them was that they were all moonlighting but I never found that out until they left the property, because of course I had no rights as a landlord that would enable me to do it. No government has ever changed that although if it did, I’d be open-minded about benefits tenants.

We have to carry out right-to-rent checks and affordability checks. If you ask for character reference, reference from previous landlord, evidence of savings in UK financial institution, current mobile phone contract showing permanent address, passport, driving licence, last two years of tax returns/SA302 showing all income including benefits, evidence of any other income such as pensions and tax credits, evidence of entitlement to benefits and you also make it clear that there may be a credit-referencing check, CRB check, and a guarantor may be required then you would have enough information to work out how much of a risk your benefits tenant was and what the likelihood would be of you recovering unpaid rent from the Money Claims Online service, whilst also having the details required to successfully use this service.

Of course, you don’t HAVE to advertise, IF you advertise you have to include an amount (which should be high) and you don’t have to advertise on a first-come-first-served basis; you don’t have to tell the council when tenants applied for the property (and you’d be crazy to do it) and the extra referencing is likely to take extra time. You can take your time to get the best tenant and it’s better to do that than maybe spend a year trying to get a non-paying tenant out. So whilst some tenants on benefits might make it through YOUR credit and affordability checks the chances are that there will be other tenants that do so more easily.

Of course you are going to have to be careful of how you store and process the data. You don’t need the tenants’ permission to store and process the data as you have a legal basis for processing but the tenant might check that you are registered with the Information Commissioners Office and they could issue a subject access request (to check the data you hold on them). Your agent will already be complying with data storage and processing requirements if you are using a good agent.

The Labour Renters Rights Act is a gift for agents.

What a bunch of Muppets Pennycock and co are. In a situation where the RRA triples the financial costs of a default and there are ten applicants per rental, only the best of the best tenants with the purest of records will be considered. For landlords arranging financial insurance, the insurers will themselves only consider the best of the best also. Ministers don’t seem to be getting it through their skulls that our assets are not theirs to do with as they wish.

Reply to the comment left by DPT at 03/08/2026 – 17:41
Didn’t pass the comprehensive referencing and credit checks. End of!

Reply to the comment left by NewYorkie at 04/08/2026 – 08:26
The post says “The Property Ombudsman already has a code of practice for letting agents which is mandatory for its members; and we will publish, later this year, a non-statutory code of practice setting out minimum best practice standards, and consider legislation to ensure compliance.”

Going forward two of the key questions that anybody is going to need to have answered when they use an agent is:

(1) What financial and other personal information are you collecting from prospective tenants in order to check eligibility/affordability/risk.

(2) What tenant data will be provided to me if the tenant defaults in order that I can pursue the unpaid debt through e.g. the Money Claim Online service.

It can take a year to get your property back and some landlords never get the unpaid rent back after spending a year in the courts. So the personal data that the agent collects from the tenant become critical. If you store and process personal data on a tenant then you have to register with the Information Commissioners Office and you have to protect the data. Financial information is sensitive personal information but you have to pay for a registration however much data you collect. You don’t need the tenants’ permission because you have a legal basis for processing.

One of the consequences of the Labour Renters Rights Act is that landlords and their agents are going to have to collect and store a lot more sensitive personal information from tenants in order to protect themselves.

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 03/08/2026 – 10:07
agreed!

Reply to the comment left by Laurence Stevens at 03/08/2026 – 11:43
might be earlier than you think if they loose jobs/start claiming benefits. Then they will have no where to go and you face evicting them.
You might also need to rethink this plan if the EPC C rears it head again. Will you want to spend more to upgrade the property if you cant recoup in rent?

Reply to the comment left by DPT at 03/08/2026 – 17:37
taking out insurance and legal cover is what I have decided to do to protect my asset. It is taken out on this basis. If there are obligations I have to follow by the insurer as part of this cover then this is the line drawn. If I make sure this is clear in the advertising then I am not discriminating. Anyone who wishes to apply can do so, but the requirements by the insurer cannot be adhered to then the application cannot progress.

Reply to the comment left by The_Maluka at 03/08/2026 – 18:06
when you now have to take ALL benefits as income (not just the HB element) then actually many more pass affordability. If they get PIP, plus full LHA rate, there may be child benefit, carers allowance…it all adds up (with or without a benefit cap). You cant discriminate what benefit you class as income and what you leave out.

With a whole list of benefit ‘income’ comes a whole list of discounts too, like lower CTax, water bills, utility bills even bloody social tariffs for internet!

Incomings V outgoings = affordability met.

Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 11:52
I think this is a good line but the insurers are still going to want to recoup their money and so will the lenders: My landlords insurance does not let me house asylum seekers or homeless people for example because they are high risk.
The Labour Renters Rights Act just made a lot more tenants too risky to house. So whilst you might be able to get an insurance quote I think that any insurance company would still want to see stringent affordability checks, and any lender would need to know that nobody was going to be getting the keys to the property that might be difficult to remove. Having a sitting tenant in a fire-sale is one thing…having a squatter in there is another.

If a tenant doesnt pass a formal referencing process or affordability check, (taking account of their potential benefits payments) then of course you are not obliged to take them. If, however, you just assume they wont pass and dont give them a proper opportunity to be considered for the property, then just telling them or the Council you just offered it to someone else isnt going to cut it. A Council investigation will demand a written account of each step of the process you used in dealing with their application along with a copy of the notes you took when interviewing or otherwise considering the benefits applicant. Unless you can show that your actions and assumptions did not discriminate, its an easy £7k boost to the Council coffers.