The government's Right to Rent legislation commences from 1st February 2016. This will requires all private landlords in England, including people who sub-let or even just take in lodgers, to check that any new tenants have the right to be in the UK, before renting out their property to them. Failure to check could result in a fine of up to £3,000 per tenant, if they are subsequently found to be here illegally.
The new rules are part of the Immigration Act 2014. A new Immigration Bill builds on the reforms in the 2014 Act, and proposes new measures to make it easier for landlords to evict illegal tenants. It also creates a new criminal offence targeted at unscrupulous landlords who repeatedly fail to carry out the proper right to rent checks.
Under right to rent, landlords have a legal duty to check identity documents for all new tenants and take copies. A range of commonly available documents can be used. These basically fall into two main categories: 1) things like UK passports, current driving licences and official paperwork issued by HMRC or the Department of Work and Pensions which prove that the holder has the right to permanent residence in the UK, and 2) other types of document which are applicable to people who only have the right to stay in the UK for a limited amount of time.
All new tenants, British citizens or not, will have to undergo these checks, but people with a legitimate right to be here should have no trouble proving it.
Needless to say, these new rules have received a mixed response! Some question why landlords should effectively be made to do the work of the Border Agency (which seems to have largely been ignored...) and what happens for those UK residents who do not have a passport or drivers licence and have no idea where their birth certificate is? In fact the simplest way around this issue for tenants that don't have the necessary ID documents, they can apply for a CitizenCard. For more information see: http://www.citizencard.com/
Still, the fact remains that all landlords will have to abide by the rules. The Government has provided guidance notes which can be found here, and you can find out more from the Home Office website.
Under Belgarum's full management service we can do the checks for you. We have implemented thorough procedures to ensure we are compliant with the new legislation coming into force at the beginning of next month. There are many changes happening with legislation in the private rented sector and Belgarum ensure to all of our clients that we are prepared to handle and implement all pending changes so that they can relax and know that their rental investments are in safe and reputable hands.
