{"id":4023267,"date":"2019-03-08T16:25:29","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T16:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.buyassociation.co.uk\/?p=4023267"},"modified":"2019-03-08T16:25:29","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T16:25:29","slug":"government-crackdown-on-buy-to-let-landlords-no-benefits-no-dss-adverts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/news\/government-crackdown-on-buy-to-let-landlords-no-benefits-no-dss-adverts\/","title":{"rendered":"Government\u00a0crackdown\u00a0on buy-to-let landlords ‘no benefits, no DSS’ adverts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around 50% of landlords say they wouldn\u2019t be willing to let to tenants on housing benefits,\u00a0<\/span><\/b>according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Of the 4.5 million households living in rented\u00a0<\/span>acco<\/span>m<\/span>modation<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0approximately 889,000\u00a0<\/span>receive<\/span>\u00a0housing benefit<\/span>, and p<\/span>otentially\u00a0<\/span>thousands<\/span>\u00a0more could be struggling to access the rental\u00a0<\/span>market<\/span>\u00a0if landlords are discriminating against those on benefits.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In response, the government is planning to investigate letting advertisements that discriminate<\/a> against\u00a0<\/span>these tenants<\/span>\u00a0and clamp down on \u2018blanket ban\u2019 advertising, with the potential of having a total ban on\u00a0<\/span>\u2018<\/span>no DSS<\/span>\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>advertisements<\/span>\u00a0in the future<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>m<\/span>inister for family support, housing and child maintenance, Justin Tomlinson says: \u201cEveryone should have the same opportunity when looking for a home, regardless of whether they are in receipt of benefits. With Universal Credit, payments can be paid directly to the landlord, and we continue to listen to feedback and work with landlords to improve the system.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mortgage lenders have a responsibility too<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

According to the Residential Landlords<\/a> Association<\/span>\u00a0(RLA)<\/span>, over two-thirds of the largest buy-to-let lenders do not permit landlords to let\u00a0<\/span>property<\/span>\u00a0to tenants receiving housing benefit.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, in a market leading move, Natwest bank has announced that restrictions on landlords with buy-to-<\/span>let<\/span>\u00a0mortgages from letting to benefits claimants are to\u00a0<\/span>be scrapped<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nationwide is another lender that doesn\u2019t force landlords to discriminate against benefits recipients and is urging lenders, agents and\u00a0<\/span>landlords<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0to change this outdated practice.\u00a0<\/span>Paul Wootton, director of home proposition at Nationwide Building Society<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0says:<\/span>\u00a0\u201c<\/span>Everyone should be able to access a safe and secure home suitable for their needs. The continued presence of \u2018no DSS\u2019 restrictions in the private rented sector is unfair and denies this right to a significant group of people<\/span>\u201d<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Landlords should assess tenants on a case by case basis\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The RLA<\/span>\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>own<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>research has found that the average amount owed by tenants in receipt of universal credit had increased from \u00a31,600 in 2017 to just under \u00a32,400 last year.\u00a0<\/span>Since m<\/span>any private<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>landlords are small scale\u00a0<\/span>and<\/span>\u00a0rent arrears do cause them problems, it\u2019s understandable that they would prefer the security of<\/span>\u00a0a tenant that will pay rent in full<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0on time and have the financial means to pay for any property damage.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the RLA<\/span>\u00a0agree<\/span>s that\u00a0<\/span>blanket\u00a0<\/span>discrim<\/span>in<\/span>ation<\/span>\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0<\/span>be tolerated<\/span>. L<\/span>andlords should assess prospective tenants on a case by case basis and not rule out letting to those in receipt of benefits.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

John Stewart, policy manager for the Residential Landlords Association<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0says:<\/span>\u00a0\u201c\u2026<\/span>with growing numbers of benefit claimants now reliant on the private rented sector we need to do more to give tenants and landlords greater confidence in the benefits system<\/span>\u201d<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Around 50% of landlords say they wouldn\u2019t be willing to let to tenants on housing benefits,\u00a0according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.\u00a0\u00a0 Of the 4.5 million households living in rented\u00a0accommodation,\u00a0approximately 889,000\u00a0receive\u00a0housing benefit, and potentially\u00a0thousands\u00a0more could be struggling to access the rental\u00a0market\u00a0if landlords are discriminating against those on benefits.\u00a0\u00a0 In response, the government… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3380,"featured_media":6018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[385,386,387],"class_list":["post-4023267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buy-to-let-landlords","category-uk-housing-market","tag-ministry-of-housing","tag-rla","tag-universal-credit"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3380"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4023267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4023267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4023267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4023267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}