End income discrimination

Right now, too many landlords and letting agents are discriminating against people who receive benefits or have children. These renters are coming up against blanket bans on renting homes, and are sometimes even rejected from viewing properties.

The Renters Reform Bill would help tackle this injustice

Now the bill is finally being debated in parliament, MPs must make sure that it becomes illegal for landlords and agents to refuse to rent properties to people who receive benefits or have children.

We created a series of videos to highlight this issue

To truly deliver for renters, the bill must also remove the barriers that prevent already marginalised groups from renting homes they can afford. This means no more asking for multiple months’ rent upfront, or guarantors who earn ridiculously high salaries.

This sort of discrimination has a direct and devastating impact on the lives of people who receive benefits. It causes huge levels of stress and anxiety; it leads to people staying in unsuitable and unsafe accommodation because they can’t move – and ultimately, it fuels the housing emergency.

We've won important changes but there's still more to do

Since the start of this campaign, we’ve proven that blanket bans against people who receive benefits are unlawful. Now it’s time to make it directly and specifically illegal and tackle these discriminatory barriers.

Key campaign wins:

• The government promises to outlaw income discrimination in the Renters Rights Bill.

• Winning the landmark court rulings that declared housing benefit discrimination is unlawful. At four historic hearings involving Shelter clients, ‘No DSS’ discrimination was declared unlawful. 
  These wins prove without a doubt that agents operating ‘No DSS’ policies are not only acting unjustly but also unlawfully. This is a huge breakthrough for our campaign!

• Securing big wins as Zoopla, SpareRoom and Rightmove remove ‘No DSS’ restrictions from their sites
  These should no longer appear on the property portals' adverts

• Stamping out DSS discrimination in the buy-to-let mortgage industry
  Many landlords used to have terms in their mortgages which prevented them from letting to tenants who receive housing benefit. But in 2020 it’s nothing more than a myth. Industry leader Mortgages for Business tell us that they think over 99% of the buy-to-let mortgage market is now ‘No DSS’ free.

  Thanks to our campaigning, all the major players have removed their ‘No DSS’ clauses, including in historic contracts, and confirmed that they won't enforce them in future cases.

• Demonstrating that insurance policies that don’t discriminate are available
  Some thought landlord insurance policies prohibited landlords from letting to tenants who receive housing benefit. But through our work with the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (IBBA), we’ve shown that most insurance brokers can find insurance policies that cover this situation at little or no extra cost.

• Getting confirmation that there is no excuse for blanket bans
  Organisations like the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) and The Property Ombudsman (TPO) confirmed that there is no excuse or justification for letting agents and landlords having blanket bans against tenants who receive housing benefit.