The Home Office has announced that from February 1, 2016, the Right to Rent scheme will be extended across England. This means all private landlords, or their agents, in England, including those subletting or taking in lodgers, will have to check new tenants have the right to be in the UK before renting out their property.
The scheme is being extended following an evaluation of the first phase in the West Midlands and has received the continued input of a panel of industry experts, housing and homeless charities and local authorities.
Right to Rent is one part of the government’s ongoing reforms to the immigration system to make it harder for people to live in the UK illegally.
As of February 1, anyone who rents out private property in England will need to see and make a copy of evidence that any new adult tenant has the right to rent in the UK (for example a passport or a biometric residence permit).
The process is simple, according to the Government which says many organisations in the private rented sector already check the immigration status of tenants.
In most cases, it says, checks can be carried out without contacting the Home Office. However, if a tenant has an outstanding immigration application or appeal with the Home Office, landlords can request a Home Office Right to Rent check. A yes or no answer will be provided within two working days.
Landlords who don’t make the checks could face a civil penalty of up to £3,000 per tenant if they are found to be renting out a property to someone who is in the UK illegally.
The Government is also making it easier for landlords to evict illegal migrants as part of the Immigration Bill.
Dust off my fake immigration officer uniform I guess. Two days for the home office to give an answer in the current market the applicants who don’t have the right papers on demand will loose out. why wait or bother with difficult cases? Not discrimination it will be market forces.
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why do we all not bombard the home office with our right to rent checks we may crash the system if we all do it this, world has gone totally bonkers!!!!! I want a job in government as I am sure I can come up with some beauties of ***** up to balls up other professional industries to
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Typo of the day
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Out of interest would any letting agent now have an internal policy favoring obviously British only tenants?
I don’t offer lettings but if i did i think i would be tempted.
Why would i want to risk my company or landlord a fine?
Multiple applications on a rental would be hard not to discriminate.
This is an unfair policy. if they boarders are being breached why should individuals going about their day job be fined?
Out of interest the trial area, how many agents have been fined? is this really an issue???
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“The scheme is being extended following an evaluation of the first phase in the West Midlands and has received the continued input of a panel of industry experts, housing and homeless charities and local authorities.”
In other words, they ignored everybody and went on with it anyway.
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Well said how true
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My my, aren’t the Conservatives busy – Legislation Galore!
It concerns me that this will effect potential tenants who are close to their permit expiry date and have yet to renew or are awaiting confirmation of renewal; not sure how the Home Office will help here!
Other than that, I am not sure what will change, we already seek ID, accept tweaking our processes to ensure compliance. I doubt we will need to increase tenant fees, I am not aware of any cost implications, and as we take holding deposits that will simply be retained if we subsequently discover they have no right to rent, then this will deter applicants of this ilk from applying in the first place.
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Ah, excellent, so we get a yes/no answer in JUST two working days (as if that’s how it will work out).
I was hoping for a yes/no answer at the point of calling as otherwise if it’s a ‘no’ the Landlord will have lost two days marketing time. The flip-side is that if the agent suggests keeping the property on the market while the checks are carried out do we then get accused of racism? I can see it all now in the Argus…
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How about the government gets fined for every illegal that gets in. Or fine the agencies that are responsible for border security, better still spend some money and tighten it all up.
Landlord Compulsory Licencing, TDS Fines, Section 21 changes, Inept Legal System, HMO, Agents having to do HMRC’s job, to name a few!
It a wonder anyone wants to be a Landlord or Agent.
The good news is the new tax laws will be coming here in 2017, so that should finish off BTL for good and we won’t have to worry about all this legislation! Well maybe for the companies and the cash buyer, who don’t have to worry about it.
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My friend came back from France via Dieppe at the end of the Summer. He said why bother hanging out at Calais when they were turning a blind eye to immigrants and quite a number got on the boat at Dieppe. Probably the same people I saw living in groups in Green Park Central Londin yesterday.
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That’s perfectly OK – by making the Landlord do the work of the now depleted UK Border Force Theresa May cracks two birds with one stone …….. she has reduced the Border Force to a totally ineffective unit and reduced the
wages and pensions bill for them – at the same time put the responsibility for the serious Home Office failings into the private sector at no cost to Government, ie………. US the Landlords, no wonder she has become the arch enemy of law and order in the UK !!
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