Do you have the Right! The rent?

From the 1st February new legislation comes into force Under section 22 of the Immigration Act 2014 requiring all landlords and letting agents to check the immigration status of potential tenants before granting them a tenancy

The Scheme was piloted in parts of the West Midlands in December 2014 and the extension to England is the next phase of what the government intends to be a UK-wide roll out
Following a recent Freedom of Information Request, Right2Rent.co.uk, received confirmation that as of the 7^th August 2015, 7 Civil Penalty Notices had been issued to Landlords in the pilot areas. The penalties ranged from £80 to £2,000. A further 21 Civil Penalty Referral Notices were issued before the 7^th August 2015, notifying Landlords that they may be liable for a penalty.

So what is Right to Rent
In short, it means ALL landlords and agents MUST check the immigration status of your potential Tenant or lodger, to ensure they have the Right to live in the UK, you can check the status here:
https://www.gov.uk/check-tenant-right-to-rent-documents

These new laws apply to anybody who sublets or takes in lodgers,Liability only applies to NEW tenancy agreements entered into after the commencement dates (i.e. existing tenancy agreements will not be affected).

Failure to do these checks will result in a financial penalty of up to £3,000 per tenant and to add insult to injury The Immigration Bill 2015/16 contains proposals to broaden the liability that individuals face under the Right to Rent scheme. If this bill becomes law, as appears likely, then the persons with responsibility for carrying out the checks will become CRIMINALLY liable if the right to rent provisions are not followed. Such persons if convicted will face a custodial sentence of imprisonment for up to 5 YEARS and/or a fine.

For once the Government have published a useful guide for landlords on how to carryout these checks, you can download it here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/489675/2016-01-5__Document_Guidance_For_Landlords_V1_1.pdf

So... I'm sure we can all see whats coming..... Landlords and agent will just default to renting to obvious British Citizens ONLY.... Thankfully someone has actually thought this through and it would be in breach of discrimination laws to discriminate on grounds of nationality by only renting to British citizens. A landlord adopting this approach could face a discrimination suit which would have uncapped damages.
In order to comply with the Right to Rent scheme, landlords should carry out checks on ALL prospective tenants, regardless of appearance, to ensure that they are complying with the new scheme

These checks are not a one off either, if you renew the tenancy or were aware of a  ‘time-limited’ right to rent is established then a further check will be needed after the longest of the following:
a) one year, beginning with the date on which the checks were last made;
b) until the period of the person’s leave to be in the UK expires; or,
c) until the expiry of the validity period of the document which evidences their right to be in the UK.

Mistakes
The main issue with all new legislation that requires audience participation of some form usually has its teething problems and the odd innocent mistake is made, interestingly as the Government is make us de facto immigration officers with no training or immigration knowledge, they have stated that there is no excuse under the statute if the Landlord makes a mistake in interpreting documentation or commits an innocent error. In these circumstances, unless landlords have passed on liability to an agent, they will remain liable for breaching the requirements of the Right to Rent scheme.


I do wonder though, how the Government will manage to police yet another Bandaid policy given that all these great ideas such as Compulsory advertising of Fees, EPCs before letting, protection of deposits..  have slipped seamlessly under the radar