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'It's been made very clear to me that having teenage sons isn't the ideal,' says Sara

By Alison Benjamin & Harriet Agerholm

BBC News

Thousands of adverts for rental homes posted by private landlords and lettings agents say children or pets are not welcome, BBC analysis shows.

There are no laws explicitly stopping this, but MPs are considering more protections for renters in England.

Under existing equality laws, blanket bans on children have been shown to indirectly discriminate against women.

A single mother of three told the BBC she was shocked many of the properties she looked at specified no children.

"I suppose they think that they're going to have wild parties, or that they're messy, but my children aren't like that," said Sara from Sussex.

Estate agent body Propertymark said a government cap on deposits in England made landlords more wary of damage - specifically in relation to pets.

The National Residential Landlords Association said it recognised how important pets were to many tenants and that any bans on children reflected "the actions of a minority of rogue landlords".