The local lettings agent has blamed a trainee for ‘mistakenly’ rejecting a rental enquiry from a woman who receives housing benefit, reports Marco Marcelline
A Walthamstow lettings agent has described its refusal to rent to a housing benefit claimant as a “mistake”.
Stow Brothers, which is based in Hoe Street, was approached by a woman who was looking for a flat after having recently left an “abusive relationship”. She disclosed to the agency that she was reliant on Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to cover rent while she worked on “getting back on [her] feet”.
A trainee lettings agent at Stow Brothers however responded: “Thank you for this information. Unfortunately we don’t accept DSS. Would you have any savings or a guarantor?”
DSS stands for Department of Social Security which was a government agency that managed benefits payments. The DSS was renamed Department for Work and Pensions in 2001 but the term DSS has remained and is regularly used by letting agents and landlords to refer to people on housing benefit.
Stow Brothers has apologised to the woman, with the company’s head of lettings writing on social media that the email was “mistakenly sent” by the trainee.
Adding that the email “wrongly implied we do not accept tenants on housing benefits”, the staffer added: “We want to clarify that this is not the case and sincerely apologise for any confusion or distress caused! We fully comply with all housing equality laws and are as inclusive as possible – we absolutely do welcome tenants from all backgrounds, including those receiving housing benefits.”
In a separate statement to the Echo, a Stow Brothers spokesperson attributed what it called a “genuine mistake” to the trainee having “based his reply on experiences outside of our company”.
The Echo understands that further staff training has been put in place for “policy reinforcement”.
Stow Brothers says it currently has tenants who are on housing benefit, though the Walthamstow letting agent did not respond when the Echo asked if it could state how many there were.
There have been several landmark court cases which have effectively outlawed ‘No DSS’ policies by letting agents and landlords.
In July 2020, a letting agent was held to have breached the Equality Act 2010 after rejecting tenancy applications from a disabled single parent on benefits.
Handing her judgement at York County Court, judge Victoria Elizabeth Mark declared that the agent had been “unlawfully indirectly discriminatory on the grounds of sex and disability”.
And in September 2020, a Birmingham letting agent that operated a blanket ‘No DSS’ policy was found to have breached the Equality Act by indirectly discriminating against disabled people.
Stow Brothers was in the news in 2023, when ex-estate agent Chris Williams successfully sued the company, run by brothers Andrew and Kenny Goad, for unfair dismissal.
Awarding Williams £33,583, The East London Hearing Tribunal found that his former employer had “manufactured” a complaint that he wiped his work computer of important files and emails before going off sick with stress in February 2020.
The tribunal heard Williams say he was subject to mistreatment and harassment after “refusing” to “create paperwork” needed for an insurance claim to recoup money lost to a landlord who Stow Brothers had to compensate after a tenant did not pay rent.
Nine months after he signed off sick, Williams was told he was being investigated for allegedly wiping his computer, with Stow Brothers accusing him of making it hard for colleagues to do work in his absence.
The judge however ruled that there was “no truth” in the allegation and agreed he had been unfairly dismissed.
The same judge however struck down Williams’ claims of discrimination and harassment on grounds of sexual orientation.
Do you live in Waltham Forest and have been refused a place to rent because you claim housing benefit? Get in touch: [email protected]
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