Rental discrimination: guidance for Scotland

What counts as unlawful discrimination

It's a criminal offence for landlords to take steps that would make someone less likely to rent their property because they have children or receive benefits.

This includes:

• not sharing information about available properties
• stopping someone from viewing a property
• refusing to give a tenancy

Exceptions

Landlords can only refuse tenants with children if:

• they have an insurance contract signed before 1 May 2026 that stops children living in the property (this exception ends when the insurance is renewed or ends)
• stopping children from living in the property would be a ‘proportionate way of achieving a legitimate aim’ - find out more about this below

Landlords cannot act against current tenants who start receiving benefits or have a new child join their home.

What is not discrimination

Landlords can consider income when deciding if someone can afford the rent. It's not discrimination if someone doesn't meet income requirements, whether they have children or receive benefits.

Landlords should set the same financial requirements for everyone and consider all forms of income, including benefits.

Landlords can:

• ask for up to 6 months' rent in advance (but only after the tenancy is signed)
• ask for a guarantor to make sure rent gets paid

Proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim

In some cases, landlords can stop children from living in a property if they can show the restriction is a 'proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim'.

Examples include:

• retirement homes or student housing
• properties that would be unsafe for children because of how they're built
• meeting licencing conditions or other legal requirements

It is for the courts to determine if a restriction is legitimate and proportionate. Breaching the prohibition on discriminatory marketing of a property is a criminal offence.

There's no such exception for discriminating against people who get benefits.

What makes an aim legitimate

Deciding if an aim is legitimate is a matter for the courts. Landlords should seek legal advice if they intend to apply a restriction. The courts may consider an aim intended to accomplish the following as legitimate:

• providing peaceful retirement living
• university accommodation
• keeping children safe

What makes a restriction proportionate

For a restriction to be proportionate, landlords should consider if there are other ways of achieving the same goal. If there are no reasonable alternatives, the restriction should be suitably limited. For example, whether they ban all children from living at the property or those of certain ages.