Right to Rent rules may change

Right to Rent checks became a legal requirement for landlords to carry out on tenants from February this year. This controversial requirement has been seen by many landlords as an unnecessary extra responsibility carrying out checks that should be made by customs and immigration.

However the RLA have reported that the Government is planning to change its guidance for Right to Rent and is calling for all landlords to contact them and report their experiences. This landlord feedback can then be passed on by the RLA to government and taken into consideration for any new rules that may be implemented.

It was announced last month by government that landlords will no longer be immediately criminalised for failing to report or rent to illegal immigrants with no right to stay. Changes to the Immigration Bill now provide protection for landlords who take reasonable steps in an appropriate time frame to terminate tenancies of those living in the country illegally.

Alan Ward, RLA chairman said, “we are delighted that the Government is willing to listen to landlords with regards to Right to Rent.

What is vital now is that we have details of real experiences that we can feed back to officials before the guidance is updated.”

To Feedback your Right to Rent experiences you can email: [email protected]

Current guidance is detailed below:

Right to rent

Includes everyone who will be living in the property who is 18 or over, even if they are not named on the tenancy agreement. It also applies if there is no tenancy agreement, or the agreement isn’t in writing.

Making a check

– Find out who will be living there as their only or main home
– Check their original documents and make sure they are the tenant’s and haven’t been altered, that all the information (e.g. date of birth and photo) is consistent on all and that if any names are different, that they have the supporting documents, such as a marriage certificate
– Keep a note of the date you make the check
– Take copies of all the documents and keep them for the duration of the tenancy plus one year
– Or you can ask your managing agent to run the checks for you, but you should put this in writing

Tenants with a limited right to stay

If the tenant has a limited time they can stay in the UK, you need to:
– Run the check in the 28 days before the tenancy begins
– Run another check on their status just before the expiry of their right to stay or 12 months after your last check, depending on which is longest
– If they don’t have a right to stay at that point, you must tell the Home Office

If the Home Office has the tenant’s documents, then you can use their checking service https://www.gov.uk/landlord-immigration-check to find out if you can rent using their Home Office reference number.

Find out more

You can read more about the landlord’s right to rent code of practice here. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-rent-landlords-code-of-practice