The Renters' Rights Act 2025 makes it unlawful to discriminate against prospective tenants because they receive benefits or because they have children. "No DSS", "no housing benefit", "professionals only", "not suitable for children" — all of it, in the advert and in the decision behind it.
Why this is new
Blanket benefit bans were already vulnerable. County court decisions had found them indirectly discriminatory under the Equality Act 2010, because women and disabled people are disproportionately likely to receive benefits — the tenant had to bring a claim and prove the disparate impact.
The Act makes it a direct prohibition enforced by the local authority. No claim to bring, no disparate impact to establish. The practice itself is the breach.
What it covers
- Advertising that states or implies benefit recipients or families need not apply.
- Refusing to grant a tenancy on either ground.
- Refusing to consider an application, or declining a viewing.
- Terms designed to exclude — a guarantor requirement applied only to benefit recipients, for instance.
- Instructing an agent to apply such a policy. You cannot delegate your way out; the agent is liable too.
What you may still do
The ban is on the category, not on assessment. You may still:
- Carry out affordability checks — applied to every applicant on the same basis, and counting benefit income as income.
- Take references and check previous tenancy conduct.
- Require a guarantor, provided the requirement applies consistently rather than only to one category.
- Decline an applicant who genuinely cannot afford the rent on your standard test.
The line is consistency. An affordability threshold everyone meets or fails is legitimate. One that exists to produce a particular answer for benefit recipients is the prohibited practice wearing a different hat — and "we require six months' rent in advance from benefit claimants" is the version enforcement officers recognise on sight.
Penalty
A civil penalty of up to £7,000, rising to up to £40,000 or prosecution for a repeat breach. The Equality Act 2010 route remains open to the tenant in addition — the Act does not replace it.
What to change
- Audit your listings. Old adverts carrying "no DSS" are live evidence.
- Write down your affordability test and apply it to everyone. A written, consistent test is the defence.
- Count benefit income as income. Excluding it produces the prohibited outcome by arithmetic.
- Instruct your agent in writing and keep the instruction. You are liable for the policy they apply on your behalf.
Check the rest of your position. The free compliance check covers the obligations that attach to the property, and what the Act did not change covers the myths.