Fraser Bond supports tenants receiving housing benefit with a range of DSS-accepted rental properties.
If you claim housing benefit or Universal Credit, you can no longer lawfully be turned away for that reason. Section 34 of the Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1 May 2026. Here is what that means for your search, what we do differently, and how to spot a landlord who has not caught up.
Benefit income is not a reason to decline you. If an agent or landlord says otherwise, that is now against the law — and we will tell you what to do about it.
Tenant fees have been banned in England since 2019. No admin fee, no referencing fee, no renewal fee. Only your deposit and rent.
We add up your whole household income, benefits included, and apply the same test we apply to everyone. Nothing is filtered out before it is counted.
Guarantor problems, deposit schemes, direct payment to the landlord — we raise these before an application, not after you have been declined.
Area, budget, who is moving in and when. Message us and we will send what actually fits, including properties not yet advertised.
We deal with the landlord and the access. If there is a reason a property will not work for you, you hear it before you travel across London.
Referencing, deposit protection, Right to Rent, the tenancy itself. You get a copy of everything, and nothing is charged to you.
Since 1 May 2026, sections 33 and 34 of the Renters’ Rights Act make it unlawful for a landlord or a letting agent to discriminate against you because you receive benefits, or because there are children under 18 in your household. Before that, blanket ‘No DSS’ rules were already being found by the courts to be indirect discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.
The ban is on the blanket rule, not on ordinary checks. A landlord can still assess whether the rent is genuinely affordable for you, ask for a guarantor, and take up references. That is legitimate, and it applies to everyone.
What helps most is arriving prepared. Bring your benefit award letter or Universal Credit statement, any other income, a reference from a previous landlord if you have one, and your ID. If affordability is tight, a guarantor or a local authority rent deposit scheme often closes the gap — and most agents will not mention either.
This is the change that helps most and gets talked about least. Before 1 May 2026 a landlord who could not lawfully say ‘no DSS’ could achieve the same result by asking for six or twelve months’ rent up front — which almost nobody claiming benefits can produce. Rent in advance is now capped at one month.
Rental bidding is banned at the same time, so a property has to be advertised at a stated rent and the landlord cannot accept more than it. Between them, those two rules remove the main ways an affordability requirement was being used to filter people out. The deposit remains capped at five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, and must be protected in a government scheme within 30 days.
Your housing costs are met up to the Local Housing Allowance rate for your area and your household size — not up to the rent. LHA rates are set by Broad Rental Market Area, and the bedroom entitlement is worked out from who is in the household rather than from the property: one bedroom for a couple or single adult, one for any two children under 10 regardless of sex, one for any two children of the same sex under 16, and one each beyond that. If you are single and under 35 without children you are usually limited to the shared accommodation rate, whatever you rent.
Two things can help close it. Discretionary Housing Payments from your council are short-term help with exactly that shortfall, and they are applied for rather than automatic. And Universal Credit can be paid direct to the landlord under an Alternative Payment Arrangement, which many landlords will accept as reassurance where they might otherwise ask for a guarantor. Ask us to raise both before an application, not after a refusal.
Keep the message. A text, an email or a portal reply saying ‘no DSS’ is exactly the evidence that matters, and it is timestamped. Councils can fine a landlord or agent up to £7,000 per breach, and issue more than one for repeat behaviour. You can report it to the local authority, and Shelter and Citizens Advice will both help you do it.
Send it to us as well. We will tell you plainly whether what happened was unlawful, and we would rather find you somewhere than watch you keep getting turned away.
Not because you claim benefits. They can decline you for a reason that would apply to anyone — affordability, references, credit history, or no guarantor where one is required. What they cannot do is rule you out before any of that is assessed. If the refusal came with wording about DSS or housing benefit, keep it: that is evidence.
Not by us, and not lawfully by anyone else in England. The Tenant Fees Act 2019 bans admin, referencing and renewal fees. The only payments allowed are the deposit, a holding deposit of up to one week’s rent, rent itself, and specific default charges. Anyone asking you for an application fee is breaking the law.
Tell us at the start rather than at referencing. Guarantor requirements are more negotiable than most people assume, and there are guarantor services and council rent deposit and bond schemes that can stand in. We would rather solve it up front than lose the property for you at the last step.
Yes, in many cases — through an Alternative Payment Arrangement, the housing element can be paid directly to your landlord. Plenty of landlords find that reassuring, so it is worth raising early. We will ask on your behalf if you want us to.
That depends on the size criteria and the Local Housing Allowance rate for the area, which varies significantly between boroughs. It is worth checking before you view, because it decides which areas are realistic. Send us your household make-up and we will tell you what your budget actually stretches to.
