Zero-hours contract workers turned away by some of UK’s biggest landlords
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Version 0 of 1. Some of the UK’s biggest landlords are refusing to take tenants on zero-hours contracts or are insisting on payment guarantees, seen as further evidence of the problems faced by workers forced to sign up to the restrictive employment terms. Around 1.4 million workers are on zero–hour contracts, which offer no fixed hours or income, making it hard to prove their income to landlords or mortgage lenders. Fergus Wilson, who made headlines in January when he announced he was evicting tenants who received housing benefits, said he had never let any of his near-1,000 properties in Kent to workers on zero hours. “No landlord in his right mind will accept tenants who do not have a guaranteed wage,” he said. “No rent insurer will accept them so that effectively makes the landlord’s decision for them. No hay … no pay … nowhere to live.” Kevin Green, a landlord who has more than 700 properties, mostly in Wales, said he would favour other tenants over those on zero-hours contracts. “Obviously it is not a guaranteed employment contract and the employer can basically stop giving someone work when they want,” he said. “For us it is not a guarantee of earnings. We wouldn’t favour tenants on zero-hours contracts. Full-time permanent employees, the self-employed and then other tenants would be our preference – people on these types of contracts would come down the line.” Green said tenants on housing benefit would get preference over those on zero–hours contracts. “With housing benefit there is a guarantee of a sum of money coming through. In our experience these contracts have not been a good thing. Employers will often flout them.” However, unlike Wilson, Green said he would offer a tenancy to a worker if they could offer a guarantor who would be credit checked. Another big landlord, Stewardson Properties, said that it did let to tenants on zero-hours contracts, and was willing to take a six-month average of someone’s earnings when assessing affordability, or to accept a guarantor. However, some letting agents are explicitly ruling out workers without fixed contracts. On the website of Neil Douglas, an letting agent in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, a section describing the application process states: “Earnings from zero-hours or temporary contracts are not taken into consideration.” Richard Lambert, chief executive of the National Landlords Association, said it was in a landlord’s best interests to minimise risk as much as possible. “A landlord might be concerned if they knew a prospective tenant was on a zero-hours contract because tenants who rely heavily on commission or variable hours tend to have a fluctuating income,” he said. “If the individual’s proof of income showed that it could at times dip below the affordability threshold, a landlord would know there was a risk of the tenant getting into arrears. In cases where there were significant variations in income, a landlord might require a guarantor before agreeing a let. “It is not common practice for landlords or agents to ban such applicants, but it is a risk which any landlord should take into account when vetting tenants. “ TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said zero-hours contracts made paying for basics such as rent and bills “a complete nightmare” and meant people were struggling to get mortgages or find rented accommodation. She added: “With a huge rise in the number of insecure jobs, many people are now increasingly being rejected by mortgage lenders and landlords. We keep hearing from this government about Britain’s so-called jobs recovery, but try telling that to people on zero–hours contracts who can’t get a roof over their heads.” Alison McGovern, the Labour MP who has campaigned for better controls on the use of zero-hours contracts, said: “People are really struggling to make ends meet off the back of these practices. It’s bad enough that people don’t know what is going to be in their wage packet at the end of the month but the knock-on effect of that is that their housing is precarious or they don’t have much choice where to live.” McGovern and colleagues George Howarth and Luciana Berger backed a report advising that workers should have the right to demand a fixed contract if they have worked regular hours for the same employer for six months and to automatically move to a fixed contract if they have worked regular hours for over a year, unless they decide to opt out. |