EAST LANCASHIRE renters on housing benefit are being told that they are not welcome in the majority of houses listed on popular website Spareroom.co.uk- despite this being unlawful.

In July, a blanket ban was placed on DSS (department of social security) renting discrimination, meaning it is now unlawful for landlords to prevent tenants on benefits from renting their properties.

On flat and house share site, Spare Room only a small percentage of properties on the site are offered to East Lancashire renters on benefits.

Spare Room has a filter on its website called ‘housing benefits considered’- when selected, this filter displays properties which will definitelty accept those on housing benefits.

At the moment in Blackburn, there are 149 rooms available to rent on Spare Room- but out of those, only 14 of them are being offered to those who claim benefits.

In Burnley, 93 rooms can be rented on the site- only six are being offered to those on benefits.

If you wanted to rent in Darwen but you’re on benefits, you are out of luck- zero out of five properties are being offered.

Spare Room say the filter exists for practical reasons and is a way for people on benefits so they don’t waste their time with landlords who will turn them away after applying.  

A spokesperson for Spare Room said: “The ‘housing benefit considered' filter was introduced to help people who rely on housing benefit to find available properties.

“We realised that many rooms were listed as unavailable to people on benefits, so wanted to stop them wasting time contacting people, only to find out they couldn’t rent the room.

“Some Buy to Let mortgages do still prohibit landlords from renting to people who receive housing benefit, so we’re changing the advertising process so that a specific mortgage clause is the only reason we’ll allow for saying they won’t rent to tenants on benefits.

“We’ll make it clear on the ads which these are so tenants can filter them out if needed.”

Since writing this article, Spare Room have now changed their 'housing benefits considered' filter to 'hide ads that can't accept housing benefit (due to mortgage/insurance restrictions)'.

The historic 'No DSS' court hearing


(Twitter/@Shelter)

Earlier this year, housing benefit discrimination was judged to be unlawful and in breach of the Equality Act.

District Judge, Victoria Elizabeth Mark, declared in the court that: “Rejecting tenancy applications because the applicant is in receipt of housing benefit was unlawfully indirectly discriminatory on the grounds of sex and disability, contrary to […] the Equality Act 2010.”

Housing charity, Shelter, are part of the reason the historic court case on housing benefit discrimination was passed.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, says there is “no need” for DSS accepting filters to exist on property sites.


She added: “No DSS discrimination overwhelmingly bars women and disabled people – who are more likely to need help paying their rent – from finding a safe place to live.

“In the worst cases, ‘No DSS’ policies have left people homeless.


“That means there should be no need for ‘DSS accepted’ filters, because private rentals should be advertised as available to any prospective tenant who can afford to live in them, regardless of where their income comes from.”

Renting in the coronavirus pandemic

‘No DSS' barriers could make an already difficult renting situation seem impossible for those on benefits during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics, the number of people in work fell by 220,000 and those claiming unemployment benefits surged to 2.7 million between March and July.

Furlough schemes currently end on October 31st the ban on tenant evictions will be lifted on 20th September.

Billy Harding, Research and Policy Officer at Centrepoint (charity for young homeless people) said: “Since the start of the pandemic, we have seen a 50% increase in the number of young people contacting our helpline seeking housing support.

“We think it will only get worse as the economic repercussions increases.

"When looking for a place to rent, people should be assessed on an individual basis and not just the way they receive their rent."

If you are having issues with rental discrimination you can contact Shelter England- they can give you some advice about what to do next.

There is even a template letter on Shelter’s website which you can send to landlords and agents, alongside lots of free and expert housing advice at www.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice.

If you are a young person struggling with homelessness, you can contact the Centrepoint helpline.