Joint bid to bar landlords from excluding families

The Scottish and UK governments are considering reforms to the rental sector

The Scottish and UK governments are to work together on a law to ban landlords from excluding parents and people on benefits from renting homes.

A BBC investigation found thousands of property listings across the UK were closed to people with children or pets.

The UK government has tabled a bill to reform the sector - and talks are taking place to extend it to Scotland.

UK Housing Secretary Michael Gove said a joint approach would "send a clear message to providers".

The Scottish government welcomed the proposals, and said it would work with UK counterparts to develop the plans.

However a spokesman added that talks should also include a "close examination" of Local Housing Allowance, which has been frozen for three years.

• 'Rental ads saying no kids forced us to sofa surf'

A BBC investigation found thousands of adverts for rental homes posted by private landlords and letting agents which said children or pets were not welcome.

Almost a quarter of just under 8,000 ads examined on the OpenRent website said families were not allowed to rent the homes, while 300 on Zoopla explicitly said children were not wanted.

Previous studies have also found a large number of ads are "no DSS" - closed to people on benefits.

Under existing equality laws, blanket bans on children have been shown to indirectly discriminate against women.

And the National Residential Landlords Association has said any such bans reflected "the actions of a minority of rogue landlords".

But the UK government has moved to make the law more explicit as part of a set of wider reforms of the rental sector.

Joint approach

The Renters (Reform) Bill was introduced at Westminster in May, and would strengthen the law to make it illegal for landlords and agents to have a blanket ban on tenants who have children or are in receipt of benefits.

It would also give tenants the right to request a pet in the property, which the landlord must consider and could not "unreasonably refuse".

Talks are now taking place about these elements of the legislation extending to cover Scotland.

Mr Gove has written to Scottish Housing Minister Paul McLennan to offer a joint approach.

He said talks had also taken place with the Welsh government.

"We know this is a priority we share with the Scottish government, and would send a clear message to providers across the whole of Great Britain," Mr Gove said.

UK Housing Secretary Michael Gove has written to the Scottish government

The Scottish government has passed measures of its own capping rent rises at 3%, and has extended a ban on evictions.

It has also consulted on a new strategy which includes a housing regulator for the sector - similar to one plan in the UK legislation.

A spokesman said: "We are aware of the UK government's plans to introduce a ban on excluding those in receipt of benefits and those who have children, and welcome this proposal.

"We will work with the UK government as it develops its plans to consider how best to protect these groups in Scotland."

However, he added that any talks "must include a close examination of the UK government's decision to freeze Local Housing Allowance rates at 2020 levels for the third year running", saying affordability was "the far more significant barrier to accessing a privately rented home".

The Scottish government has previously written to UK ministers about this, and Westminster's Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee has also called for rates to be increased.

The UK government contends that the 2020 level was an "elevated rate" which has been maintained in cash terms.