Is It Legal to Advertise No Dss

All rental agents are required by law to be members of the calling services operated by The Property Ombudsman (TPO) or The Property Redress Scheme. Following the Shelter campaign, the OPC confirmed that it would investigate complaints of discrimination at the DSS. It is not uncommon for private landlords to advertise properties for rent, stating that they do not accept applications from people who rely on housing assistance (HB) to pay their rent. Although the Social Security Department has been around since 2001, the term used in ads is usually “No DSS.” This raised the question of whether such restrictions constitute unlawful discrimination. Although this is unlikely to be direct discrimination, given that income and employment status are not protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, it has long been argued that in some cases it could be indirect discrimination. The first thing to say is that you can`t have general “No DSS” policies. Your illegality has been proven, and if you tell a plaintiff, “We don`t consider you because you`re receiving benefits,” they can sue you for compensation. However, perhaps only if they themselves fall into the list of protected characteristics. It is not illegal. It is technically “illegal”.

The difference is significant. The lawsuit was also supported by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Nationwide Foundation and barrister Tessa Buchanan at Garden Court Chambers. Rose Arnall, the Shelter lawyer who led the charity`s legal challenges on the issue, said: “This is the first time a court has fully considered such a case. Advertise properties as “no DSS”, “no benefits” or “only for professionals” In this case, the owner cannot be named for legal reasons. Probably not. I am allowed to ask this question of the lawyer in our upcoming webinar on the DSS case, which you can read here: landlordlawblog.co.uk/2020/10/05/landlord-law-legal-cases-webinar-looks-tyler-v-carr-barrister-tessa-buchanan/ The successful case is the latest step in the charity`s End DSS Discrimination campaign to end the practice of excluding thousands of people from renting homes each year – and the It is the hope that the decision will send a clear message that landlords or agents who continue to refuse to rent to applicants for housing assistance risk taking legal action. The second mother also settled out of court, with the owner paying £3,500 in compensation, £2,500 in legal fees and apologising in public. If I say “work only”, it does not mean that the beneficiaries are not taken into account. Is this “workaround” acceptable? The subject has attracted increased attention in recent years. On 21 February 2019, the Special Committee on Work and Pensions opened an inquiry into the absence of DSS: discrimination against beneficiaries in the housing sector – the investigation was ongoing before the dissolution of Parliament for the 2019 parliamentary elections.

On 1 March 2019, then-Secretary of State Heather Wheeler said the government was calling for “an end to housing listings that show `No DSS` tenants`”. In the first case, the owner paid £3,000 in compensation, £10,000 in legal fees and wrote an open letter of apology. In a recent and landmark court case, a landlord was sued (and settled out of court) for sex discrimination because of a “No DSS” clause in his lists, the logic is that because the majority of plaintiffs are women, the ban was illegal under equality laws. Gurdip Chana, a consultant at HF Assist, a specialist rental helpline, explains why you can`t advertise “No DSS” and how you can encourage landlords to consider tenants on services. Emma has a background in undercover and investigative journalism. In recent years, she has co-founded investigative units for independent media and produced investigative podcasts that expose the injustices of the British legal system. She is passionate about making investigations and human rights inclusive for the public and works with grassroots movements and activists to do so. Outside of work, Emma is also a PhD student in human rights law and studying reproductive rights and human trafficking in the UK and Europe.