Immigration Act 2016 - Right to Rent Mandatory

What does the Immigration Act 2016 mean to you?

 

It is a criminal offence and UNLIMITED FINE should you be unable to demonstrate that you have taken reasonable measures to ensure persons residing in your property have a continuing right to reside.  [England now  Wales likely to follow suit]. Such penalties are in addition to the £3,000 fine connected to failures to carry out Right to Rent checks.

 

The main new offence is one committed by landlords who knowingly let to illegal immigrants. The offence is committed where a landlord:

 

1. Has let to one or more persons who do not have a right to rent;
2. Knows or should have known that those persons did not have a Right to Rent; and
3. Where there was a time-limited Right to Rent the time limit has now expired.

 

A person who is guilty of an offence is liable—

(a)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, to a fine or to both;

(b)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, to a fine or to both.

 

The acid test would arise for the landlord/agent should the Secretary of State serve the  landlord with one or more notices telling him or her that some or all of the occupiers in their property do not in fact have a Right to Rent. Upon receipt of such the landlord must take affirmative action to end the tenancy ASAP [ring your members help line]

 

There is a second offence that landlords should be aware of. LIMITED STAY PERIOD

 

 

Where the Tenant has a limited right to reside [Visa stamp for X months/ or to date] then the landlord MUST ensure they check such status is renewed and cannot extend ANY tenancy beyond being satisfied of such compliance

 

 

There are new offences for letting agents too. They largely mirror the landlord offences but without the benefit of the defence open to landlords.

Therefore, where an agent is responsible for carrying out the Right to Rent checks and is or should have been aware that the occupiers do not have or have lost the Right to Rent, and has not notified the landlord or made a report to the Home Office of this then the agent will be guilty of an offence.

 

The new penalties exist alongside the existing fine structure in the 2014 Act. It seems that fines will be used for minor matters with the more serious penalties in the new legislation reserved for repeat offenders. The new penalties are an unlimited fine and/or imprisonment for up to five years.

On the positive - There are new powers to evict persons who do not have a Right to Rent but these are very grey in that one may use reasonable force - and where is the line crossed with unlawful eviction or is it indeed would such be unlawful because unlawful tenure. The Immigration Bill does make provision and revises the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 by including exclusion for eviction where specific Immigration Act Breeches