Section 34: Discrimination relating to benefits status

Renters' Rights Act 2025 · 2025 c. 26View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 1: Tenancy reform — Chapter 3: Discrimination in the rental market: England

A relevant person must not, in relation to a dwelling that is to be let on an agreement which may give rise to a relevant tenancy—

on the basis that a person is or may be a benefits claimant, prevent the person from—
enquiring whether the dwelling is available for let,
accessing information about the dwelling,
viewing the dwelling in order to consider whether to seek to rent it, or
entering into a tenancy of the dwelling, or
apply a provision, criterion or practice in order to make benefits claimants less likely to enter into a tenancy of the dwelling than people who are not benefits claimants.

Subsection (1) does not apply if the relevant person can show that the prospective landlord of the dwelling, or a person who would be a superior landlord in relation to the dwelling, is insured under a contract of insurance—

to which section 38 does not apply, and
which contains a term which makes provision (however expressed) requiring the insured to prohibit a tenant under a relevant tenancy from being a benefits claimant,

and the conduct is a means of preventing the insured from breaching that term.

Conduct does not breach the prohibition in subsection (1) if it consists only of—

one or more of the following things done by a person who does nothing in relation to the dwelling that is not mentioned in this paragraph—
publishing advertisements or disseminating information;
providing a means by which a prospective landlord can communicate directly with a prospective tenant;
providing a means by which a prospective tenant can communicate directly with a prospective landlord, or
things of a description, or things done by a person of a description, specified for the purposes of this section in regulations made by the Secretary of State.

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Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.