Rental discrimination: a guide for landlords
If you're reported for rental discrimination
Your local council will tell you that you’ve been reported for rental discrimination.
It’s likely they will ask you to give more details about the situation.
They may serve you a ‘notice of intent’. This will tell you that they plan to issue you with a fine for breaking (or ‘breaching’) rental discrimination laws.
You have 28 days to reply with evidence that shows that the actions you took were reasonable and that discrimination has not taken place. This is called a ‘written representation’.
Evidence can include:
- time-stamped copies of communications - for example, text messages, voicemails or emails
- copies of, or links to, the advert or property listing
- legal documents - for example, the property deed, tenancy agreement, insurance contract or statement of licensing conditions
- other documents - for example, a brochure showing that the property is part of a retirement community or student accommodation
If your local council agrees that rental discrimination has happened, you and anyone acting on your behalf will each be given a fine of up to £7,000. You will be sent a ‘final notice’ which will tell you what you owe and when you have to pay it.
You can still be issued with a fine if the breach was either:
- committed without your consent or knowledge
- because of your neglect
Example
A landlord asks a letting agent to put up an advert for a property specifically stating no children are allowed.
Someone reports this to the local council. The council agrees that it is discrimination. The landlord and letting agent are both legally responsible and given a fine of £5,000.
If you’re reported again
You could be fined for a ‘continuous breach’ or a ‘repeated breach’.
Continuous breaches
You could be fined for a ‘continuous breach’ if you have not resolved an issue more than 28 days after a final notice or appeal decision has been issued. For example, you have not taken down an advert that was reported.
If your local council agrees that a ‘continuous breach’ of rental discrimination has happened, they can issue you with a new fine of up to £7,000 every 28 days until it’s resolved.
Example
A landlord posts an advert saying they would not rent a property to people on benefits. Because of this, they were fined £7,000 for discrimination by their local council.
Because the advert was still online 28 days later, the council fined them a further £7,000 for a ‘continuous breach’. The landlord then took the advert down.
Repeated breaches
You could be fined for a ‘repeated breach’ if you commit the same offence within 5 years.
If you’re fined for a ‘repeated breach’, you’ll have to pay:
- up to £7,000 for the breach on its own
- up to £7,000 if you repeat the same type of breach within 5 years
Example
14 months after getting a fine for posting an advert saying they would not rent to people on benefits, a landlord posted a new advert with the same message.
This time, the landlord was fined a total of £12,000. This includes £5,000 for breaking the rental discrimination rules and a further £7,000 for repeating the breach within 5 years of the first fine (a ‘repeated breach’).
The landlord removed the new advert within 28 days, so they avoided another fine for a ‘continuous breach’.
If you want to appeal
If your local council issues you with a final notice, you have 28 days to appeal. You can appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal.
The final notice will be put on hold until the tribunal makes a decision. They may decide to reduce, increase, cancel or uphold the fine.
Other ways you can be reported
If someone who wants to rent a property let by your agency thinks they’ve been discriminated against they can:
- contact the local council
- contact the relevant letting agent redress scheme
- enter into civil proceedings themselves
Your local council can share their own evidence to support this.
Letting agents must belong to a letting agent redress scheme. Find which redress scheme your letting agent belongs to if you’re not sure.
Letting agent redress schemes and the courts can tell you to make things right, for example, financial compensation or an apology to the person you’ve discriminated against.