Most Epping Forest landlords banning benefit claimants (DSS)

As of August 5 there were 25 Epping Forest listings on OpenRent, the UK’s largest letting agent, only four of which accepted DSS income – 84 per cent of listings did not accept DSS renters.

DSS is used as a shorthand reference to mean benefits claimants.

In contrast, six listings allowed pets and seven were happy to rent to smokers. A further 18 would rent to students and 20 were listed as allowing families to live there.

In July, a judge ruled that blanket bans on renting properties to people on housing benefit were unlawful and discriminatory.

The judge ruled "No DSS" rental bans were against equality laws. DSS is the initialism for the Department of Social Security, which was replaced in 2001 by the Department for Work and Pensions.

OpenRent's listings included a "tenant preference" with the option for landlords to tick or cross the description "DSS income accepted".

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “No DSS’ discrimination is outdated, grossly unfair – and it’s unlawful under the Equality Act, as our recent landmark legal victory confirms. This is because it overwhelmingly prevents women and disabled people, who are more likely to need support paying their rent, from finding a safe home.

"Last month's ruling should be a wake-up call for landlords and letting agents to clean up their act and treat all renters equally.

"We won't stop fighting DSS discrimination until it's banished for good. OpenRent should ban landlords from advertising their properties as ‘DSS not accepted’ – and remind them of their legal duty not to discriminate. Otherwise, they are putting themselves and their landlords at risk of serious legal action.”

Adam Hyslop, founder at OpenRent, said: “We want to be clear that we fully support Shelter’s efforts to eliminate blanket bans and are pleased that there now appears to be legal precedent around these.

“OpenRent does not ban any group of tenants, and in the past year we have let over 25,000 properties where applications from benefit claimants were explicitly welcomed by the landlord. This is more than any other agent in the UK.

He added: “On the specific issue of “DSS” filter, as mentioned above, we did a survey of what OpenRent users who claim benefits wish us to do on the ‘DSS’ filter issue, and the clear majority preference was against making that change.”

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