Renters on benefits still being discriminated against by landlords despite 'no DSS' ban

In July, a judge ruled that blanket bans on renting properties to people on housing benefit were unlawful and discriminatory.

Despite this, an overwhelming majority of benefit claimants are still being penalised in Gosport, Fareham, Havant and Winchester, according to findings from the BBC Shared Data Unit (SDU). No figures were available for Portsmouth.

DSS is the initialism for the Department of Social Security, which was replaced in 2001 by the Department for Work and Pensions and is used as a shorthand reference to mean benefit claimants.

Following the county court case last month, the SDU took a snapshot and analysed more than 9,000 rental listings on the website OpenRent and found 76 per cent preferred not to rent to people on benefits.

OpenRent's listings included a ‘tenant preference’ with the option for landlords to tick or cross the description ‘DSS income accepted’.

There were more listings on OpenRent among these 9,000 which would accept renters who owned pets rather than people claiming benefits, the analysis revealed.

In Gosport, there were 18 listings with 0 saying they accepted DSS. Fareham had eight listings with only one accepting DSS.

Havant had 11 listings with two accepting DSS. Winchester had 37 listings with four accepting DSS.

Polly Neate, chief executive of charity Shelter, said: ‘”No DSS” discrimination is outdated, grossly unfair – and it’s unlawful under the Equality Act, as our recent landmark legal victory confirms.

‘This is because it overwhelmingly prevents women and disabled people, who are more likely to need support paying their rent, from finding a safe home.

‘Last month's ruling should be a wake-up call for landlords and letting agents to clean up their act and treat all renters equally.

‘We won't stop fighting DSS discrimination until it's banished for good. OpenRent should ban landlords from advertising their properties as “DSS not accepted” – and remind them of their legal duty not to discriminate. Otherwise, they are putting themselves and their landlords at risk of serious legal action.’

A spokesperson for the Equality and Human Right Commission, said: ‘These figures show that there is still some way to go before we can truly end the discrimination against women and disabled people who claim benefits.

‘The recent ruling will go a long way to ensure all renters’ rights are equal, regardless of their life situation or background.

‘If landlords and estate agents don’t change their policies and practices, they will be at risk of claims of discrimination from would be tenants.’

The National Residential Landlords Association's deputy director for policy and research John Stewart said it had ‘always advised landlords they should not blanket ban benefit claimants’ but the ‘fundamental issue was the affordability of renting’.

The research findings showed there was little difference in the percentage of listings which said no DSS accepted after July 14 when that judgement was reported and before – 74 per cent before and 77 per cent afterwards.

Adam Hyslop, founder at OpenRent, said: ‘There's been a recent court ruling against a letting agent who imposed a blanket ban against benefit claimants.

‘Anyone who approached that agent who was a benefit claimant was told they couldn’t apply for any properties on their books - before their circumstances were even understood.

‘We want to be clear that we fully support Shelter’s efforts to eliminate blanket bans and are pleased that there now appears to be legal precedent around these.’

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