Immigration crackdown:
landlord's
'right to rent checks'

As part of ongoing efforts to reform and streamline immigration processes, the Minister for Security and Immigration, James Brokenshire, has announced a pilot scheme which focusses on landlords and their tenants’ right to rent.

As part of the Immigration Act 2014, a range of measures are to be enforced with effect from 1 December 2014, which restrict illegal immigrants’ access to rented housing. When these provisions come into force, landlords will need to perform a ‘right to rent check’ upon prospective tenants, lodgers and sub-letters before letting a property to them, so as to ensure that they have the right to live in the UK. If landlords are found to be letting a property to someone who does not have the right to rent, they run the risk of being fined up to £3,000.

In most cases it will be possible to carry out the checks without contacting the Home Office and landlords will merely need to ask for evidence of a person’s identity and citizenship, for example a passport or biometric residence permit.

The scheme will have a phased implementation, with these measures being piloted across a single region. It will then be followed up with an evaluation which will dictate its further enforcement across the country. The scheme is to be implemented first in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall and Sandwell, with the new measures commencing in this region from 1 December this year. The checks will apply to all adults aged 18 or over living at the property and to any new tenancy agreements starting on or after 1 December 2014.

Despite leaving landlords to ‘go it alone’ in terms of enforcing the law, the government has gone so far as to set up a consultative panel to advise and inform the new scheme’s implementation and evaluation. The panel shall consist of various bodies which represent local authorities, landlords, and many other parties with an informed interest in the matter.

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