In the Herald Sun, they reported a single mum living in her car with 2 children.

This was because she couldn't find rental accommodation.

Today the paper quoted a guy who worked in real estate, saying his boss had specifically asked him not to rent properties out to single mothers. This was because 'They're probably not working, their kids will trash the joint and there's no father to maintain the property.'

I live on the same side of town as the woman in the story. I personally have had a single mum stay in our bungalow for a while, and while it's pretty squashy with an adult and 2 kids it's better than a car.

How disgusting that any rental office discriminates against these families! They are the most vulnerable, often with a lot of upheaval and stress in their lives, young children, sometimes leaving abusive marriages.

I'm horrified to read about RE agents apparently telling their staff this stuff. Although not 100% surprised. How do they sleep at night?

Whilst there does appear to be a problem with single mothers gaining a rental property, unfortunately this particular women has told a few half truths about her situation

Yes, I realise not all of the HS stories are factually flawless. I won't dispute.

However my disgust is at landlords apparent discrimination against single mums. I have witnessed first hand the difficulty a single mum friend of mine has experienced trying to get a place, and she works and has a spotless rental history. For 'some' reason, she can't get a rental. It's sooo wrong.

Not least the fact that she deliberately mislead the children's father and gave him a false address, and the first he heard of the situation was through the media.

I'm sure she could have found temporary accommodation with friends or family and had the kids be safe in a home with their Dad.

At least now that he knows, they have apparently worked out a 50/50 custody arrangement. Perhaps next time she'll think of the kids first, and her own sense of "embarassment" (that bizarrely included going to the media about her "plight") and let them stay with their father if she finds herself unable to house them.

Ridiculous. And sadly, takes the focus of genuine people in the homeless community.

Edited for clarity.

I just want to clarify I am not talking specifically about the woman in the story.

I am talking about the person who worked at a RE agent who said his boss told him never to rent to single mums.

And from some things I've heard, it doesn't seem too far-fetched to believe he's telling the truth.

I haven't read the story in question but I know for a fact it happens far too much. A friend of mine is a single mother of two boys and a girl. She had a spotless rental history and a steady income. Despite this, she is STILL searching after eight months. Three months ago DP and I went for the same place as her. We were told our app had been accepted, and she was told that the owner had said she was second choice. We then declined, thinking that she would be offered the place (she needed to move more urgently than us). The real estate agency never called her.

Happens all the time.
I applied for 13 rental properties. I received 3 calls backs with rejections and 1 call back to say I got the property. Place is a dump. Didn't look bad on inspection due to furniture hiding broken blinds, and I didn't even think to check the taps wouldn't leak as soon as you turn them on or the fact the dead bolt on the front door doesn't work and the door can be pushed open.
I have a public service job, good references etc, and still I was getting knocked back. I even offered more for a rental property and they leased it to a couple for the lesser amount.
It is a bloody joke.

As a landlord I would be less than impressed to hear that my agent was not passing all applications onto me. They are failing in their duty to both tenant AND landlord.

I know that when I am offered tennants the sad reality is that if there is a double income couple versus a single income mum or dad with the same positive rental history than I know which one I will more than likely choose....

This has however not always worked out. My worst tenant situation was when a couple split up, girl moved out leaving single male there. He proceeded to do some fairly significant damage until the lease run out which I did not renew...

When looking at a potential tenant affordability of rent is a significant considerration for the landlord.

I had wondered about the father in that story...

That reminds me of a single, working friend I knew years ago, with a daughter (we shared a house as single mums for a while), she took her (unemployed) brother with her to apply for a place, said he was her husband, and got the lease.

Prior to this she had been knocked back from many similar properties.

My mum has had the same tenants in her rental property for over five years. Just last week she had a call from the real estate agent advising her that the tenants had seperated and the man had moved out but the woman wanted to stay in the house with the children. The agent advised mum that the lease was up soon and did she want to continue to rent the property to this woman now that she was a single mum. This woman has a job and can afford the rent and has looked after the property like she owns it for years so there was no reason at all why my mum would even for a second consider not continuing to rent to her but it just go to show the bias that some real estate agents have towards single parents.

Are single dads treated the same way I wonder?

Some of my best tenants have been single dads so if anything I was positively baised towards them. For the record they tended to be highly paid professionals and excellent tenants.

libbye, having you ever thought about taking-up a hobby?

Whatever do you mean Fanoir?

LOL. There is one consistent theme in 99% of your posts. I just wondered if you'd ever considered broadening your horizons.

Gosh, not really. Perhaps I should. Memes perhaps?



Nah.

I can't comment on this particular case but it does not surprise me one bit. It's a very scary thought.

Having said that, I know a couple of single males looking for rental accommodation and they are having a hard time too. Apparently single males (and we're not talking about 18 year olds here) are also likely to trash the place, move out suddenly etc. and are knocked back based on that prejudice. Mind you, being single you can bunk down on a friend's couch for a while, which is what one of the above mentioned guys is now doing - it's a lot harder when you have children.

I would guess the bias is towards single mums? If one of the reasons the RE agent apparently said was 'there's no dad to maintain the property'? For some reason (let me guess..sexism) single dads are applauded while single mums are disparaged. Not sure why that is, maybe the same reason that dads are often congratulated for doing normal things with their children like taking them to the park. And SAHDs are amazing but SAHMs are martyrs. LOL

JJ, maybe single guys are stereotyped too, as being messy slobs. You're right though, it's not as urgent for them as when there are kids involved. As a single person there's lots of places I could stay, even my car would be ok, but with my kids, no.

I've never been knocked back from a property for being a single mum. I only have one child though so perhaps that makes a difference?

The real estate agent who leased me the rental I'm in atm told me the owners would actually prefer a single mum with one child over a family consisting of 2 parents + kids because we were likely to have less wear and tear.

I wasn't helped by only having one child. I offered more than the market rent, zillions of references, a parental guarantee as well as an employer guarantee (my boss was willing to guarantee he wouldn't fire me or he'd take over the lease), and I was working and studying and still couldn't secure a lease. I had to buy something in a dodgy area in the end instead, but that was in the days of maximum FHOG and low interest rates, I couldn't do it now if I was in that position again. There simply wasn't a landlord willing to take a look at me.

Get this for maximum frustration - I've been living next door to an empty 2 bedroom half house with a back yard for a year. They just dont want to deal with it and clearly dont need the money. I've tried all kinds of offers and deals with no comeback from them at all. I have a very good rental history, I work etc. Lately they have been coming and doing work on the place, so last week I saw them and tried casual conversation about what might be going on, and they said they dont want to rent it to me because i am a single parent!
ARGH!

I have been in this situation too, I have a perfect rental history, but kept getting knock back after knock back, it was just pure luck, I got this place, I was just completely upfront with the agent (thankgod she was understanding) I even told her that I kept getting knocked back, she got me into this place within a couple of days

Its a very sad world we live in, and damn right scary when you are own your own with kids and have nowhere else to go

We would be the same with any single tenant over dual or more. The more people on that lease, the likelihood of more than one income and more than one adult to call upon when things go FUBAR with repayments.

When I was a LL I did instruct my agency I had a preference for 'duel' incomes as PP said, just in case something happens to one of them. It honestly wasn't to deny a single parent, I just didn't think about it at that time when I told them that's what I wanted.

Sometimes when you're looking at something from a certain perspective (such as protecting an investment) you don't always recognise the implications. And the RE didn't think to point these out to me.

There needs to be a few more ethical restrictions put on RE. Mandatory reporting of LLs regarding discriminatory practices or simply that they can not follow a direction of a LL in conflict with other laws. Therefore if a single income applicant meets the criteria they have to approve, despite a LL's discrimination request.

Right now, RE can pretty much do what ever they want - all they have to do is say the LL instructed them. And the LL, none the wiser of having broken the law (well, some people aren't bright or simply assume too much), is penalised.

Not more than likely in my case but DEFINATE

I cant afford to risk my investment on single parents TBH.

They are not even considered at our rental. I am sorry but I am just being honest, I have heard way to many horror storys. Saying that we have also had our house trashed my a young couple. Lucky the last few tennants have been over 50's. Not saying that nothing can go wrong, I know it can but we are just more picky now.

We tried to give someone a chance and it backfired on us so now TBH I would rather have the house empty until we feel we have found the perfect Tennants.

I am sorry single mums have a hard time though I really am, It must really suck I hope you find somewhere soon.



Sorry just wanted to add, I sleep well at night very well knowing that my investment is in the best hands that we see fit at the time.

I've heard of REAs who won't rent to single mothers because they think there will be too many "extra keys" cut over time for a stream of male visitors/partners.

Since my mum was a single mum it makes me kind of furious. I know lots of of single, childless MEN who have streams of partners with keys (upwards of 6 in a year) but my Mum never did that.

Clear sexism on that score I think.

As a landlord I would not want a tenant I thought would cut lots of extra keys in a promiscuous lifestyle no matter the sex and no matter the parental status. But that's a character judgment, not a blanket judgment.

ETA while the dual income thing can be relevant for LLs, really, 1 partner is usually the main earner anyway - DH and I are exceptional in both earning almost exactly the same. So you could just as easily say that if something happened to the lower earner it wouldn't matter much but the primary earner it would. I can see that a single mum is in a worse position than a single dad though - if she gets pregnant she's more or less forced to take time out of earning...where he isn't. Physical fact. I've never worried about that kind of thing as a LL though as I only rent the place on a 6-monthly basis so even if she is already pregnant...it won't make THAT much of a difference.

Up to you what you do with your investment, I guess. I just hope you never find yourself in their shoes.

Thats just bizzarre and unbelievably depressing! Even with good rent histories and jobs? Far out what about the ones that dont have good rent histories and jobs? perhaps they are too busy smashing up the place in frustration?! Single parents make up a large part of our society, I'm sure you know at least one or two?

My sister and BIL own 35 investment properties, one of my friends owns close to 100. They both inform me that the best tenants to have are young families, students and retirees. Single mums are great, cos they get a fixed income from the gov't, which can be paid straight into your account from Centrelink. Welfare can't fire you (most of the time) and LL's who discriminate on marital status are just doing themselves out of income IMO.

That being said, I do have a couple of friends who are REAs and wouldn't lease to anyone on a fixed income. Stupid and narrowminded, given that it's young professionals who are most likely to trash your place.

Thank you amanda, lets lift this a little before i go and throw myself under a train! Its true, I think its an inflated attitude.

Well a certain TYPE of young professional, let's be fair. I was a young professional once and so were most of my friends and we all kept spotless houses and actually improved the rental properties. On the other hand a certain TYPE of single mother doesn't or can't supervise her kids, is always working or has multiple kids from different casual partners and has a stream of strangers through the house.

It comes down to a judgement about the person not merely their place in the social order. I can see all four categories have truth to them (good and bad for both young professionals AND single mums). I pay an agent to use her judgment and so far she hasn't done a bad job at all - and I've had young families, young professionals and singles all rent my place.

The group I fear renting to is students - as in sharehouse students. No control over who moves in next, and frankly there's a sharehouse smell I always spotted when we were looking for somewhere to rent. I'm sure there are exceptions but I'd think twice about turning my place into a sharehouse (though really it is too small anyway).

But the most frustrating thing as a young professional 2-income family with 1 child was to find everywhere with 3 bedrooms we were outbid by a bunch of smelly boys or ditzy girls in marketing courses who would cram in more than those on the lease in order to outbid us. And the places we saw that had already had this fate were very easy to spot and accounted for just about every 3 bedroom house within cooee of the city. We squeezed into a tiny 1.5 bedroom place just because it was unattractive to sharehousing. When we left there and bought a place it too went the sharehouse way - torn sofa on the front porch, beer bottles by the mailbox and you can smell it as you walk down the street.

Like I say, I'm sure there are exceptions but based on my experience I would be very wary.

We have a tenant who is a single mother. I had my reservations when she applied, but she had stable employment and good rental history, so we gave it a shot. So far she hasn't let us down.

When we have a vacancy in the future I will feel the same way. I want rent paid on time, every time. That is the chief attribute of a good tenant in my book. Single mothers tend to be on a small income, and you don't need to read far on EB too see that the attitude of rent being secondary to other wants and needs is common among a large section of the community. A smaller income means a higher likelihood of rental arrears, so I would take it on a case by case basis, but a single mother would not be my first choice for a tenant.

We have a single mother renting our house. She's been in there for almost 4 years. The only problem i have is that we're too soft to put the rent up because it feels too mean to do that to a single mum, so it's underpriced by about $50pw. But she takes care of the house and has been longterm so we're fine with that.
I wouldn't hesitate to rent to a single mother again and i think it's awful that it's so difficult for some to find a rental.

My landlady gave me my property BECAUSE I was a single mum!! She said she had been there and Boone ever gave her a fair go, and was determined not to do the same.

Admirable, but I don't think we should castigate LLs for not running a social justice agency. I believe they should have to judge people as individuals not classes, but they don't have to just take risks for the moral karma of it to be decent humans.

We rented our IP to a single mum.

Her rent money was as good as anyones and we didn't baulk at the fact she was single.

Single parents have to live somewhere!!

It's not social justice, it's just being fair and not applying the stereotype.

As you say, individuals are not classes. Why should a responsible single mum, earning as much as any other applicant, be knocked back for no other reason than a LL or RE agent having had a 'bad experience'?

If a certain nationality had in the past been a bad tenant, would you never rent to anyone of that nationality again? That would be illegal, wouldn't it?

There is no one 'type' of single mother, they are as diverse as any other mother. Some work, some don't, some are promiscuous, some aren't, some are slobs, some are clean freaks. And so on.

If everything else seems fine, why should the fact she was a single mother make the rental any more 'risky'?

It is very, very frustrating.. When I was selling my old house, but wasn't sure about buying a new place at the same time, I could not find a rental property AT ALL.. My references are exceptional, granted my rental history isn't good, as I've owned my own home since I was 18 and I have a very stable job with a pretty high wage, and I have 2 children. After 8mths of looking for a place, and my place got sold, ended up buying again, and brought a house that could be converted into units, so my parents (my mother has a physical disability) could move into the unit downstairs and it was perfectly converted to accommodate mums needs, but it was an after thought, as mum and dad weren't really ready to take that step yet, but it ended out that it was the best thing.

I've got a couple of friends who are single mums and work in the same agency as I do, so on very good wages, stable jobs etc, and are finding it very difficult to get a rental property. It's not fair, and very narrow minded of RE's and LL to think a 2 parents or even dual income = a better investment for your property.....

And I hate the insinuation that as a woman I can't do 'home maintenance' when my partner was alive I did most of the 'home maintenance' anyway! What an absolute crock!

I applied for 3 rentals two months ago, several applicants for each. Was offered 2, the third decided to take the property off the rental market, do it up then put in back on to get higher rent, they were offering me & one other applicant to reapply if we were still interested. Wondering what the other applicants were like now .

So “priveledged”, you have a sole parent renting one of your vast array of properties, but you still adhere to this stereotype?


Give me a few examples and I’ll take you seriously! I think you’ve just been busted as being a narrow minded bigot!

I would also hazzard a guess that the area where you are trying to rent in, and the amount of rentals v's applications would play somewhat of a part as well. As I know of couple of single parent friends who didn't have any trouble getting a rental property in some of the, shall we say, less desirable suburbs due to the high turnover rates of tennents, so there tends to be rental properties available, whereas in the areas I was looking at, and my friends are currently looking at, it has a higer rate of young professionals (both with and without children) wanting to live there (being a lot closer to the city) and less rentals available.

I just believe it's flawed thinking that a duel income is more likely to 'protect' your investment, surely if the applicant has the income to cover the rent then their relationship status shouldn't really come into it. Both of my friends can cover the rents that are being asked for and them some, but are not getting a look in.

I am in this situation right now and it is really getting on my nerves. I have my applied for many rentals over the past month many which are less then what i am paying now and within 24 hours i get a call back saying sorry the owner have gone with a couple or the owner has had trouble with single mums in the past. I even ask my references and work place to see if they have been contacted by the real estate company and of course they havent. if they had the decency to ring my landlords they will find out i am always one month in front with my rent and had nothing but praise with my rent inspections.

I am in my 30's, working to support my DD and also go to uni to study teaching yet they think i will cause trouble for them. grrrrrrrrrrrr

I need to find a place soon as my rent is increasing and i just can not afford to live in the place i am in at the moment. its frustrating. Now if i was single without a child/ren i would get the first one i applied for as i have done before.

So, can someone on a SPP afford $700 p/f on rent?...Not being a cow - serious question. Because that's how much my place costs and it has no backyard anyway for kids.

I would have thought that a single parent doesnt get enough to cover that.

I rent to the best potential cadidate...good history, can easily afford repayments. Its my investment. I cant afford to take any risks with tenants.

However, my sister came to an arrangement on her rental. Single mum offered 3 months rent in advance as she had NO rental history whatsoever, and my sister was taking a big risk renting to her...Agreed to give the girl and her daughter a chance...Woman never came through with the 3 months, and has actually been a little late twice. There was nothing my sister could do about the 3 months in advance, as tenant is actually not legally obliged to pay in advance and any arrangements like that cant be enforced...but they had an agreement, which she renegged on, and my sister has all sorts of weird amounts of money coming in at weird times in dribs and drabs. Its hard to plan and budget when you're not a flithy fat cat and actually rely on rent payments to pay the mortgage....needless to say, this tenant has lost my sister's trust. One more late rent payment and not only is sister refusing to resign the lease, but she will change agents too for their crappy management...And i doubt very much that my sister will take that kind of risk with a tenant again...I know I wouldn't...

Where are all these irrisponsible people who don't pay their rent? All these sole parents who don't meet their responsibilties?

I know it kills me to agree with libyee but I do think the herald sun woman was irrisponsible and should have let her kids stay with their dad vs living on the streets if they had shared care. If I had have my kids live in a car instead of ask for help I would do it

I think a land lord needs to firstly consider what is best for their financial position. Surely duel income makes sense as it is highly unlikely that if one income comes under fire that the other would too. If a single income comes under risk then that is not advantageous and the landlord will likely run into trouble.

Whether you like it or not, it makes good financial sense to want the back up of a second income.

The rental situation is tight enough in Brisbane as it is... when my XH and I first relocated back to
bris 3 years ago, we were turned down on three properties even though we had glowing references, excellent government jobs and at the time a combined income of over $150K...

So now that I am a single mum (on a much much much reduced income now), I was very concerned I wouldnt get my rental property of choice.. my solution was to join forces with a gf, another single mum and to rent something in the next price bracket up... if i was by myself, i shudder to think how i would afford to rent something at even $350pw...and it would be in very high demand.... instead, i rent a MUCH bigger proerty at $450pw...but its shared between the two of us...so we can both afford it...

Now luckily for me, my gf usually spends a few nights away each week for work on nights when her kids are with their dad... so sometimes she is with me as little as 3 nights a week... and the place we have rented is big enough that we are not under each others feet... so for now its working for us...but if things change in the future, i dont know how i will go, but i will certainly consider sharing with another single mum again...

TBH, i think im hoping tht my divorce is through by then so i have some hope of a deposit for a one bed apartment or something... i am terrified of ending up on the street...

tine1973
Ds-2

Can we stop now the stupid assumption that single mothers' only source of income is from centrelink?

I do realise that property is the favoured investment of those too simple to understand anything else, but surely even the stupidest amongst us have read enough of EB at least, to know that those who do claim PPS must work once their children are in school.

Not to mention the majority of SM who work fulltime anyway and make no claims on centrelink.

You mean that cross between BO and bong water?
There seems to be a special kind of slum lord who makes a living renting dives to uni students, none of them use REAs, they're close to uni and the disrespect flows both ways.


Your're being emotive, not logical. Once a couple has children, one income tends to drop to P/T. That won't pay your rent. A fixed income from a single mum won't change and you can garnish their pay from CL so they can't not pay you. Also, a single mum, sh*tscared of being homeless, it going to be a model tenent lest you turf her out on the street.