Wales discrimination ban date announced

New rules banning discrimination against tenants with children, or those in receipt of benefits will come into force in Wales on 1st June this year.  

Landlords will need to inform their tenants of the change by either issuing a new occupation contract or a statement of variation.  

The statement can be served up to 14 days after the new rules come in and will be available to download from the NRLA website. 

Renters’ Rights Act

The changes are coming in under the Renters’ Rights Act. 

While this primarily affects tenancies in England, elements of the Act also apply to Welsh landlords, namely the issue of non-discrimination in the private rented sector, making it unlawful to discriminate against prospective tenants who receive benefits or who have children.  

This means landlords must not:  

• Deter these households from enquiring about a property.  

• Refuse or restrict their access to viewings or property information.  

• Exclude them from entering into a tenancy.  

Landlords will, however, be able to consider applicants’ individual circumstances to determine whether a property is suitable, for example landlord may decline to rent a single room in a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) to a family if the accommodation is clearly unsuitable for family living.

What do I need to do?

No later than June 14th you will need to inform your tenants in writing that there has been a variation to the terms of their occupations contract.  

You can do this by either  

• Providing an updated version of your occupation contract to your tenants, or 

• Serving them with a statement of variation setting out the new terms. 

The latter is likely to be the most straightforward, although it is a personal choice as to which option to take. 

What happens next?

The NRLA will update its occupation contract template and provide a statement of variation for you to use to ahead of this change. You will be able to download it from our website. 

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