Right to Rent Checks

From 1 February 2016 all private landlords in England will have to make “right to rent” checks to ensure that their tenants have the right to be in the United Kingdom.

This new legislation will affect you if:

• You are a private landlord.
• You have a lodger.
• You are subletting a property.
• You are a Letting Agent making right to rent checks on behalf of a landlord.

Even tenants who are themselves subletting will need to make right to rent checks of anyone they sublet to.

We want to alert all our clients who let property that unlike some other recent legislation dealing with residential tenancies the Right to Rent Checks are not limited to Assured Shorthold Tenancies but impacts on other forms of letting too.

Landlords need to ascertain that a prospective tenant has the right document or documents which are acceptable as proof that the tenant has the right to be in the UK. These include:-

• UK passport.
• EEA Passport or Identity Card.
• Permanent Residents Card or travel documents showing the right to remain indefinitely.
• Home Office Immigration Status documents.
• Certificate of Registration of Naturalisation as a British Citizen.

A Landlord’s failure to comply with the new rules could result in a fine of up to £3,000.00.

Landlords may want to consider amending their tenancy agreement to adapt the agreement for this new legislation now in force.