Government pledges greater tenant security through PRS reforms
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Tenants on benefits still facing rental discrimination – claim
12:05 AM, 12th November 2026, 2 days ago
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A tenants’ group claims landlords and letting agents are still rejecting tenants who receive benefits, despite the practice being made illegal under the Renters’ Rights Act.
A story in The Big Issue revealed that a letting agent agreed to help exclude people receiving benefits during an undercover investigation by ACORN in Leeds.
An activist posed as a first-time landlord and called the agency to ask whether they could rule out benefit claimants when looking for tenants.
The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) said discrimination against people receiving benefits was unacceptable, but pointed out that landlords should not be criticised for carrying out checks to establish whether prospective tenants can afford the rent.
Received an apology
In a recording of the call, the letting agency, which was not named in the article, said they could “filter out the dross” when discussing prospective tenants receiving benefits.
Under the Renters’ Rights Act, it is illegal for landlords and letting agents to discriminate against prospective tenants who receive benefits or have children, with fines of up to £7,000 for those who break the rules.
ACORN said it secured an apology from the letting agency after activists entered its premises and refused to leave, and the person working for the letting agency was fired.
Usman Akhtar, chair of ACORN Leeds community union, said that despite the undercover operation taking place several months ago, discrimination against tenants receiving benefits remained an ongoing concern.
He told The Big Issue: “Landlords just dodge the law in any way they can. They’ll just say they’ve not selected an application and that’s that.”
Nye Jones of Generation Rent said to The Big Issue: “You’d previously see mass things like ‘no DSS’, and tenants completely barred from renting if they were claiming housing benefits. That’s now illegal. But for some landlords, it’s the default setting.”
Under the Renters’ Rights Act, it is illegal for landlords and letting agents to discriminate against prospective tenants who receive benefits or have children, with fines of up to £7,000 for those who break the rules.
Shortage of affordable properties
However, the NRLA said the shortage of affordable rental properties for people receiving benefits was also contributing to the problem, pointing to the government’s decision to freeze Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates.
Chris Norris, the NRLA’s Chief Policy Officer, told The Big Issue: “Landlords can, and should, check that a tenant can afford the rent, and make an informed judgement about their likelihood of being able to sustain a tenancy long-term, but those checks must apply equally to everyone, irrespective of an applicant’s source of income.
“Unfortunately, the fact that successive governments have frozen local housing allowance rates means that, according to homelessness charity Crisis, just 1.9% of private rented homes are now affordable to people in receipt of housing benefit. It is therefore no wonder that many are struggling more than ever to access quality rented homes,”
“If the government is serious about tackling the housing crisis, it must unfreeze housing benefit from next April, so that it covers at least the cheapest 30% of rents in every area.”
As previously reported by Property118, the government claims the Renters’ Rights Act addresses overt discriminatory practices used by landlords and letting agents.
Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said the act gives councils strong enforcement powers to tackle rental discrimination.
16 comments on this article
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Member Since June 2025 - Comments: 1
8:45 PM, 12th November 2026, About 1 day ago
The Managing Agent for a block of flats where we rent out a flat sent a letter to leaseholders prior to the RRA coming into force saying not to rent to “DWP, Asylum seekers or students” as we wouldn’t be insured. This was proved to be a false claim by the Managing Agent. It makes me wonder how many other landlords in the block followed that instruction or continue to think that it is a genuine excuse not to rent to out to people on benefits? Landlords face a £7000 fine yet nothing happens to the Managing Agents who try to encourage a certain agenda. There needs to be oversight, regulation, legislation and enforcement against Managing Agents too as clamping down on landlords alone is not the solution.
Member Since April 2024 - Comments: 21
10:37 PM, 12th November 2026, About 1 day ago
Various government and quasi government sources say that an affordable rent is no more than 30% of income. I have one property, a 6 br hmo. I pay the bills, so I have decided my affordability is no more than 40% of income. I use sustainable long term income as the benchmark. I apply this to working applicants or benefit applicants. I have had the council on the phone saying they can guarantee my rent for a vacant room (large ensuite in Oxfordshire) for 12 months and they would pay the total rent to me direct. The claimant would be left with approx £380 pcm the official explained. The rent amount plus the meagre money left to live on is way below the 40% mark. It is a no from me. I will NOT be responsible for someone living in my house who is not, when entire income is taken into account, way below what the government itself states is an affordable rent. I will also NOT take the risk, in the new world of no fixed term, no S21 and open ended tenancies termiated only by the tenant. of what happens when the councils guaranteed year comes to an end. It takes merely one call by the tenant to the council to have her housing element paid directly to her, with no notice whatsoever to me and then the fact that she is living somewhere where the rent is not affordable comes back to bite ME (not the Council, not the tenant who will be advised to stay put until court order) in the arse!
My financial criteria is well grounded by reference to the government’s own literature on what is an affordable rent. It is both objective and reasonable and applied across the board. Simple as that!
Member Since May 2024 - Comments: 179
11:57 PM, 12th November 2026, About 1 day ago
When this Labour government have built their 1,500,000 homes rather than actually losing 11,000 homes in the last two years, they can rent to whoever they want.
Member Since April 2018 - Comments: 724
10:18 AM, 13th November 2026, About 19 hours ago
Reply to the comment left by Leveller 5:8 at 20:45
Agreed. There needs to be a property management database with an ombudsmen to protect leaseholders. This government is introducing measures to assist leaseholders but they have no teeth. Leaseholders will still have to deal directly with managers who can give them the run around and say a 10% annual increase in management fees is justified, then what. ARMA only support managing agents.
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3799 - Articles: 5
11:11 AM, 13th November 2026, About 18 hours ago
Reply to the comment left by Jo Westlake at 12/11/2026 – 10:54
Your post just goes to show that LL’s are now becoming social welfare assessors. We shouldn’t need to know or be expected to know the rules and regs of the benefit system. It is impossible to determine assess affordability if you have a benefit applicant without going through all the detail of their claim. Not all benefits are equal and some are time limited so its not a straight forward affordability assessment for the purposes of getting a property, its also about SUSTAINING a tenancy. If a LL is letting a property via an APT then they are doing so on the basis they are looking or a long term tenant and so viability has to be considered. The laws state no min APT term, yet the implication is if you get the wrong tenant, then you can’t evict them easily either.
Its not ‘discrimination’, to refuse benefit applicants even if affordability is met, its a ‘business risk assessment’ decision that is made.
Member Since June 2013 - Comments: 3439 - Articles: 83
2:24 PM, 13th November 2026, About 15 hours ago
Well said Markella:
Since the abolition of S21 (not the landlords’ fault), it is near impossible to evict anyone. So no more taking a chance on someone.
I used to ask benefit claimants for HB to be paid direct to me. Since UC it is now quite hard to achieve this (not the landlords’ fault), and I have been caught out with tenants not passing on their Housing element of the UC.
On top of that, if the claimant is claiming UC fraudulently (not the landlords’ fault), DWP tries to claw it back from the landlord.