Should a Couple Expecting a Baby Tell Their Landlord? No, and Here's Why

A tenant once emailed me two weeks into a tenancy. 'We're expecting,' she wrote, 'and I'm worried I should have told you before we signed.' She'd been losing sleep over it. I wrote back one line: 'You didn't need to, and congratulations.' That was the whole exchange. She paid rent on time for three years.

What a rental application actually screens for

When I ran applications, I sent every prospective tenant through the same referencing process: a credit check, an employment and income verification, and a reference from their previous landlord. That's tenant referencing—the standard background check. Separately, I did an affordability assessment: did their income comfortably cover the rent? I used a rough guide of two and a half times the monthly rent, though that varies. None of those questions touch on pregnancy, family size, or future plans. A baby doesn't change your credit history or your ability to pay rent today.

If you're an expecting couple, your application should stand on two things: income and references. Volunteering a pregnancy adds a detail that isn't part of that picture. Some landlords might claim it affects wear and tear or noise, but those are guesses, not facts. I never asked about pregnancy on my application forms, and I'd advise any landlord reading this to remove the question if it's there. It doesn't help you pick a good tenant.

Why telling a landlord can backfire

In the UK, pregnancy and maternity are protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. A protected characteristic is a category the law says you can't discriminate against. I'm not a lawyer, so check your local rules, but that's the general framework. The problem is that if you disclose a pregnancy and then get rejected, proving the rejection was because of the pregnancy is hard. Landlords can point to other reasons. So by volunteering it, you hand over information that can only be used unfairly.

I remember one landlord telling me he'd rather not rent to a pregnant couple because he worried about the baby damaging carpets. I asked if the couple had good references and income. They did. He still hesitated. That's the exact bias that doesn't belong in a rental decision. You can't screen for a good tenant by guessing about a baby.

What if the landlord asks directly?

In my experience, if a landlord or letting agent asks directly whether you're pregnant, you can politely decline to answer. You might say, 'I'd rather keep my application focused on references and income.' That's a statement of fact, not a dodge. If the landlord keeps pushing, that tells you something about how they'll handle maintenance requests or privacy later. I'd walk away from that one.

What I screened for instead

When I managed my units, I cared about two things: could they pay, and would they look after the place. I checked those through referencing, a guarantor if income was tight—a guarantor is someone who agrees to cover rent if the tenant can't—and a conversation about house rules. A baby on the way never factored in. In fact, one of my best tenants was a couple who had a baby six months into the tenancy. They told me after the birth. The flat came back in perfect condition when they left four years later.

So if you're an expecting couple filling out an application, don't volunteer the pregnancy. It's not dishonest to keep private medical information private. Fill in the form honestly where it asks about income, employment, and references—those are the questions that matter. The landlord doesn't need to know about the baby until you're ready to tell them, and by then you'll have proven you're a good tenant.