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Agents and landlords “can say no to zero hour tenants”
Landlord and tenant specialist Tessa Shepperson had confirmed that it is legal for letting agents and landlords to deliberately say no to prospective tenants who are working on unreliable zero hour contracts.
Shepperson, on her Landlord Law website, says that landlords are of course subject to the widely-understood anti-discrimination laws regarding gender and sexual orientation, religion, race and disability.
“However a landlord must be able to have some freedom over who he accepts as a tenant. And the employment status of the tenant is a key issue” she says.
Shepperson says that because it is from their salary that most tenants will pay their rent, the security or any other issue surrounding the salary is central to the decision-making process of a landlord or letting agent.
“It is pretty dangerous to take in a tenant whose employment contract does not guarantee him any income as you [the landlord] could end up seriously out of pocket. Particularly when you bear in mind that it takes up to six months or more to evict a tenant (for example for non payment of rent) and during all that time the landlord will still have to pay his expenses on the property” she says.
Shepperson says she personally understands why there is a debate about the morality of this but feels the problem – if it is one – should be solved through employers and not through landlords.
