11th
Feb 2022
An industry association is in constant contact with the Home Office, as with other trade bodies, to be kept up to speed with the government’s plans for the ‘revolutionary’ digitisation of the immigration system, with the new legislation changes starting from April 6th 2022.
Covid inflicted Right to Rent checking processes will end on April 5th 2022, however video calls can continue until this date and tenants will be still allowed to send scans or photos of documents up until then. If existing or prospective tenants are unable to provide any documentation required for checks, then landlords and letting agents must use the Home Office Landlord Checking Service.
The new Right to Rent online checking service on the government is now available for agents and landlords to check out existing and potential tenants’ immigration status. Using this method does away with the onus on having to check actual documents, which cuts the process down considerably, as any available information available about a person’s Right to Rent status will be provided in real-time from the Home Office’s digital service.
April 6th 2022 Deadline onwards – from this date landlords and letting agents will have to use the Right to Rent Online Checking Service for Biometric Residence Card & Permit holders.
Be aware that from April 6th manual R2R checks on prospective and existing tenants will no longer be accepted as checking must be carried out on the online government checking service.
However retrospective checks on Biometric Residence Cardholders who, before 6 April 2022, provided physical documents to prove their Right to Rent status will not be necessary.
But if landlords and agents decide upon carrying out a retrospective online check and find that a current tenant’s Right to Rent status is no longer valid, then they must immediately contact and report this to the Home Office, using the correct online form. This is just for damage limitation sake to ‘protect’ themselves against any potential prosecution for seemingly not complying with the rules.
As from April 6th 2022 the Identification Document Validation Online Service will made available for agents and landlords to use certified Identification Document Validation Technology (IDVT) third party service providers; these will act on their behalf to carry out necessary online checks on British and Irish citizens who have a valid passport or an Irish passport card.
A spokesperson for the industry association, explains: ”The immigration system is digitising and letting agents operating in England need to be aware that the UK Government is moving away from a system reliant on individuals proving their Right to Rent through physical documents to a more streamlined digital system. The changes are two months away and agents are urged to get ahead of the game and take the time now to understand how it will impact them going forward.”
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