The Home Office has published updated guidance for landlords carrying out adjusted Coronavirus right to rent checks.
This guidance extends the concession allowing landlords to conduct manual right to rent checks via video conferencing and copies of supporting documents from 31 August 2021 to 5 April 2022.
This is beneficial for landlords as it is much quicker and easier than the traditional process.
These temporary measures have been introduced as a means of ensuring that the Right to Rent Scheme continues to function and provide support to landlords, whilst the Home Office look to implement ‘a long-term, post-pandemic solution’.
One such solution may be to create a system of digital right to rent checks using specialist technology. This is something the Home Office is looking into as it would enable checks to continue to be ‘conducted remotely but with enhanced security’ in the future.
The Home Office have advised that up to and including 5 April 2022, if you are a landlord carrying out a temporary adjusted check, you must:
- ask the tenant to submit a scanned copy or a photo of their original documents via email or using a mobile app
- arrange a video call with the tenant – ask them to hold up the original documents to the camera and check them against the digital copy of the documents
- record the date you made the check and mark it as “adjusted check undertaken on [insert date] due to COVID-19”
Most importantly the Home Office have emphasised that despite Coronavirus, right to rent checks remain necessary and it is still an offence to knowingly rent to a person who does not have the right to rent in England.
For more information on carrying out right to rent checks during the Coronavirus pandemic and advice for landlords, see the Government website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-landlord-right-to-rent-checks
Immigration Act 2016: eviction of illegal immigrant tenants – A quick overview of the status quo
Under Sections 20-37 of the Immigration Act 2014 (IA 2014), private landlords of residential properties are prohibited from letting certain people occupy their properties, based on their immigration status. Prior to granting a tenancy, there exists a requirement for landlords to check the status of prospective tenants to ensure that they have the right to be in the UK. These checks are known as ‘right to rent checks’.
Additionally, landlords are required to ensure that an existing tenant’s right to rent entitlement has not lapsed, otherwise they could face a civil penalty of up to £3,000 under s23, IA 2014.
Since 1st February 2016 these right to rent requirements have applied, and continue to apply, to the whole of England.
The Immigration Act 2014 was amended by the Immigration Act 2016 with a view to enhance the right to rent scheme. The relevant provisions under the IA 2016 came into force in England from 1st December 2016.
The 2016 Act introduced new criminal offences aimed at any landlords and agents who fail to carry out the required right to rent checks or take the necessary steps to evict illegal immigrant tenants from their properties in England.
The 2016 Act also set out new provisions to make the eviction of illegal immigrant tenants easier and now under certain circumstances, landlords can evict such tenants without needing a court order. Furthermore, the IA 2016 added a new mandatory Ground 7B in Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988, which sets out more information on the circumstances in which the court must order possession with regards to immigration status.
If you require advice on anything discussed in this article, please contact us on 0203 627 9727 or drop us an email at info@hillarycooperlaw.co.uk and a member of our client support team will book you in for a free 30-minute initial consultation with one of our highly qualified solicitors.
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