A landlord (or someone acting on their behalf) must not prevent a person from enquiring about, accessing information about, viewing or entering a tenancy of a dwelling on the basis that a child might live at, or visit the property, or that the person is or may be a benefits claimant.
Breaching the new rules is a criminal offence for which the punishment on conviction is a fine. There is an exception where the conduct is a “proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”. Legal advice should be obtained before relying on this exception.
This provision must be included in new standard occupation contracts from 1 June 2026.
Landlords with existing standard occupation contracts must update these by formal variation by 14 June 2026. This can be done by giving the contract-holder either a written statement of the variation or a written statement of the occupation contract as varied.
Failure to update the occupation contracts as required can lay the landlord open to compensation claims from the contract holder for incomplete/incorrect written statements.
Guidance and an example written notice of variation can be found here .
New rules about discrimination in housing contracts
03 June 2026
Image from: EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHY
New legislation came into force on 1 June 2026 which prohibits landlords renting residential properties on standard occupation contracts from discriminating against certain categories of people and applies throughout the marketing, viewing the property and entering of the tenancy.
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