F1PART 1AChoice of tenant

6BOffence of discriminating in relation to benefits status

(1)

It is an offence for a relevant person to, in relation to a property that is to be let on an agreement which may give rise to a private residential tenancy—

(a)

prevent a person, on the basis of the person’s benefits status, from—

(i)

enquiring whether the property is available for let,

(ii)

accessing information about the property,

(iii)

viewing the property in order to consider whether to seek to rent it, or

(iv)

entering into a tenancy of the property, or

(b)

apply a provision, criterion or practice in order to make people who are or who, if the property were their home, may become benefits claimants less likely to enter into a tenancy of the property than people who are not.

(2)

It is a defence for the relevant person to show that the property is insured under an excluded contract of insurance and the conduct is a means of preventing the insured from breaching the term which causes the contract to be an excluded contract of insurance.

(3)

Conduct does not constitute an offence under subsection (1) if it consists only of—

(a)

things done by a person who does nothing in relation to the property other than one or more of the following things—

(i)

publishing advertisements or disseminating information,

(ii)

providing a means by which a prospective landlord can communicate directly with a prospective tenant,

(iii)

providing a means by which a prospective tenant can communicate directly with a prospective landlord, or

(b)

things of a description, or things done by a person of a description, specified for the purposes of this section in regulations made by the Scottish Ministers.

(4)

A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(5)

For the purpose of this section—

(a)

something is done on the basis of a person’s benefits status if it is done on the basis that the relevant person believes that the person is, or may be or, if the property were the person’s home, may become a benefits claimant,

(b)

a contract of insurance is an excluded contract of insurance if—

(i)

section 52 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (terms in insurance contracts relating to children or benefits status) does not apply to it, and

(ii)

it contains a term which makes provision (however expressed) requiring the insured to prohibit a tenant under a private residential tenancy from being a benefits claimant.