Recommendation 28

The Government says it will make it illegal for landlords to have blanket bans on letting to benefit recipients. If this is a commitment to preventing landlords from discriminating against benefit recipients, it is unrealistic. If it is a commitment to preventing landlords from stating explicitly that they will not consider letting to benefit recipients, it is unambitious. Landlords who do not want to let to benefit recipients will simply choose not to do so. The real issue is twofold: there are not enough homes for rent; and local housing allowance rates have not kept pace with the market in recent years. We call on the Government to explain in response to this report how it intends to prevent landlords from refusing to let to benefit recipients, and we again recommend that it uprate local housing allowance rates so that housing benefit better covers the cost of renting in the private rented sector.