Landlords still refusing to let to benefits claimants, despite court ban on discrimination

Listings website must remind property owners of ‘legal duty not to discriminate,’ warns Shelter

Thousands of landlords in the UK are still attempting to stop benefit claimants renting out their properties – despite a recent court ruling which found banning them unlawful.

At a landmark county court hearing last month, a judge ruled that an attempt to prevent a woman in receipt of housing benefit from renting a house in York was in breach of the Equality Act 2010.

However, around 75 per cent of the listings on the popular landlords’ website OpenRent still feature “no DSS” conditions, according to BBC analysis of 9,000 entries.

The notorious “no DSS” phrases – which refers to the now-defunct Department of Social Security – has long been used to indicate owners won’t let to people on state benefits.

Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, said: “OpenRent should ban landlords from advertising their properties as ‘DSS not accepted’ – and remind them of their legal duty not to discriminate.”

She added: “We won’t stop fighting DSS discrimination until it’s banished for good.”

OpenRent said its policy remained that “applicants should be made aware upfront of any conditions of renting a property”.

Website founder Adam Hyslop said some property owners had mortgage conditions which prevented them letting to benefit claimants.

“We’re committed to solving root causes like these, however in the meantime our customers are overwhelmingly telling us we should not be pretending the problem doesn’t exist,” Mr Hyslop told the broadcaster.

“Hiding conditions of renting over which the landlord has no discretion only wastes time for all involved, and indeed makes the situation far worse for the very people Shelter is trying to help.”

One of thousands of OpenRent listings saying benefit claimants won't be accepted (OpenRent)

In April this year property website Rightmove joined competitor Zoopla in banning “no DSS” from all its rental listings. Rightmove told its agents they “should not impose blanket bans on tenants on housing benefit”.

The company also pointed out that several mortgage lenders had revised terms and conditions to make sure there was no restriction on letting to people on benefits.

In July, York County Court’s district judge Victoria Elizabeth Mark declared for the first time that “rejecting tenancy applications because the applicant is in receipt of housing benefit was unlawfully indirectly discriminatory on the grounds of sex and disability, contrary to […] the Equality Act 2010.”

The case related to a single mother with two children, who had become homeless, who was refused access to a two-bedroom house in York by a letting agency because she received housing benefit.