Landlords and letting agents throughout are legally obliged to confirm that prospective tenants have the right to reside in the UK before agreeing a tenancy. Which is part of the government’s Right to Rent scheme.
Baroness Thornhill, a Liberal Democrat peer, has advocated for Amendment 115 to the Renters’ Rights Bill and if adopted it would eliminate the requirement for Right to Rent checks altogether.
The Immigration Act 2014 places a legal obligation on landlords and letting agents to ensure that tenants have valid immigration status before renting out property. This policy, known as Right to Rent, aims to restrict access to the private rental market for individuals living in the UK unlawfully.
Those who fail to conduct the required checks can face substantial fines. The maximum penalty for a first offence has surged to £20,000 up dramatically from the previous £1,000 threshold.
The Peer has called for the clause to be thrown out arguing that the policy fosters discrimination and unfairly shifts the role of immigration enforcement onto landlords.
She said: “The Right to Rent was introduced as a mechanism to make it harder for those without legal status to live and work in the UK, part of the so-called hostile environment. It placed a legal obligation on private landlords to carry out immigration checks before renting out their property, turning them into de facto border officials.
She said: “Landlords and letting agents are ordinary citizens who are neither trained nor equipped to make complex legal determinations. When even the a major landlords association is saying loudly and clearly that this is not working, you know it is not a good thing. You have to question its ability do what it says on the tin.”
She also said that Industry Associations have stated that Right to Rent is not fit for purpose.
She said: “Landlords fear the consequences of getting it wrong, including fines and even prison, they are more likely to play it safe and reject any tenant who does not hold a UK passport. Both the landlord association and Shelter say that one in four landlords believe they can rent only to British passport-holders.
“The fact is that the government have turned ordinary landlords into immigration officers, no training or guidance, just threats of fines and prison sentences if they get it wrong. The resulting discrimination is plainly evident. Let us be clear: this is not just a policy failure; it is a moral failure”
Although Amendment 115 received backing from several members of the House of Lords it was ultimately excluded from the final version of the Renters’ Rights Bill.
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, serving as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, defended the decision by stating that current evidence does not convincingly demonstrate that the Right to Rent policy results in discriminatory practices.
She said: “The scheme has been independently evaluated twice. Although some examples of discriminatory attitudes were found, there was insufficient evidence to claim that there was any systematic, unlawful discrimination as a result of the right-to-rent scheme. There are therefore no current plans to end the scheme.”