Discrimination in lettings, what to avoid

Why it matters

Discrimination claims are reputationally damaging, uninsured in most policies and increasingly reported by applicants.

Legal requirements

• Protected characteristics include age, disability, sex, race, religion, pregnancy and maternity.
• Indirect discrimination occurs where a neutral rule disadvantages a protected group without justification.
• Reasonable adjustments may be required for disabled tenants.
• Refusing a request for an assistance animal is likely to be unlawful.

Common mistakes

• Advertising no DSS or no benefits.
• Refusing a family because the property is quiet or the flat is upstairs.
• Requiring a UK based guarantor from every applicant regardless of income.
• Rejecting a request for a grab rail or ramp without considering adjustments.

Practical guidance

• Publish one affordability standard and apply it to every applicant.
• Count all lawful income including benefits when assessing affordability.
• Record why each applicant was accepted or declined, in objective terms.
• Consider adjustment requests properly and reply in writing.

Guarantor policies and indirect discrimination

Requiring a UK homeowner guarantor from every applicant disproportionately affects people who are not British nationals and people without family wealth. If you use guarantors, use them where affordability falls short of your published standard, not universally, and accept alternatives such as additional rent in advance or a rent guarantee product where reasonable.

Documenting a defensible process

Keep the advert, the application form, the reference outcomes and a one line reason for each decision. If a complaint arrives two months later, that file answers it in minutes. Without it, you are arguing from memory against a written complaint, which is a poor position even when your decision was entirely fair.