Wow! Unbelievable!
Your money your choice! Their property their choice! There are hundreds of other properties out there to choose from? Why? That landlord just escaped a nightmare.
I wish I didn’t read this post. Now I’m feeling anxious and bullied.
I think the author of this post has left as i haven’t seen one of his long essays in quite some time now. However if you are still here, I am sorry but you have been given totally the wrong advice by Shelter and i’m extremely disappointed in them. If i had a choice between pensioners/ long term sickness and those that are fully employed and are getting a regular salary, I know… and you should know too… that I would choose the latter as would all other landlords. You must admit you are in a precarious situation right now, and i am very sorry and truly hope that you will recover soon but given your situation, regardless of you saying you will pay the annual rent in advance, the LL will always worry at the next renewal date. All LLs want stability, less stress, (God knows the Government piles on the stress on LLs already without us having difficult tenants!), and tenants that are looking to stay long term.
Everything you have seen on the news is correct that there is a bigger pool of tenants to choose from and not as many available properties. So there is no discrimination, its the availability of choice. So please don’t trust in Shelter’s advice again. There will never be a case to answer given the choice available to LLs. And good luck with finding somewhere to rent.
I am a pensioner with a secure pension, secure pension credits, secure life term high rate PIP, and housing and council tax benefits … Also excellent references from the few rentals I have had in 20 yrs, so secure longterm non stop rental payments being offered. If I were a landlord I’d choose me and my situation because full time employment is actually not as secure in my opinion. Jobs can be lost for a number of reasons at anytime, and then hey presto ~ an unemployed tenant!..
It is worth know that the law defines discrimination quite specifically
However - choosing one potential tenant over another , or ensuring a tenant can afford to pay the rent, is not discrimination. in law if it is not on the ground of the protected characteristics
Shelter wil be able to advise you on these matters -
But if you really intend to take legal action you would be wise to refrain from posting on these pages until the case is complete - firing off at the landlord is likely to harm your case, if it does get to court - particularly if what you post is designed to put other tenants off applying to him and potentially cause him loss of income and you cannot prove it to adequate legal standards.
Tread carefully.
Hi Mark10 so sorry that you are unwell and as with Nadia, I wish you a speedy recovery. I also agree with the sentiments in her post. and will add —
Sadly, the Government do not help —the Housing Benefits they pay is below market rent plus they changed the rules so the housing benefit which used to be paid direct to the landlord…is now paid to the tenant! Both of which combined make tenants on Housing Benefits a far riskier proposition than previously and in a supply-vs- demand market —where demand is higher than supply–precisely because the Government are making Landlords lives hell with GIMICKS to make them look bad so the politicians appeal to renters/first time buyer…very short sighted as —many of us are fed up to the back teeth with costs soaring and all the pro-tenant legislation
We are business people- invariable small businesses and self employed…and please understand what the Government says --is Puff and Smoke and rarely what the government does in practice—they are the ones snooping on claimants bank accounts…and saying ‘you can not discriminate against disabled people’ is one thing [word salad which in fact will be very difficult, stressful and time consuming to prove–and not actually in context the Landlords fault --but the Governments!!! Plus they are the ones NOT building enough affordable housing, which is creating another big supply/demand imbalance on top of so many Landlords quitting because we have to pay for everything, get taxed on gross income, less deposit to cover damages etc etc and can stick money in the bank and make same with no hassle —so who would do it???
If we wanted the property back —we may get cancer ourselves or some other serious illness!!! the thought of having to evict a sick disabled person plus two pensioners is demoralising —on that basis alone, many would not venture where angels fear to tread-----
Complain to your MP about making life for small landlords hell and tinkering on the surface and not fixing the supply issue with building more council owned property.
Sorry it does not help in the short term but everyone is getting duped - the World Economic Forum who run our puppet governments want rid of small [businesses/landlords] so BIG CORPORATIONS [many don’t even pay tax] can take over–and they only care about profits and shareholders - so things will get even worse not better for tenants.
Do not be fooled, complain to the root -your MP/Government not at small landlords in general xx----xx
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