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Halt Right to Rent roll-out now: Two peers launch bid this week
Original Author: Rosalind Renshaw
Two peers are to challenge the Government this week over Right to Rent.
On Wednesday, Lib Dem Baroness Hamwee will move that the commencement order of Right to Rent under the Immigration Act 2014 be annulled.
At the same time, Labour’s Lord Rosser will move that “this House regrets that the Immigration Act 2014 (Commencement No 6) Order 2016, laid before the House on 11 January was laid following inadequate consultation, and asks the Government to undertake a further consultation before the commencement order comes into force.”
Right to Rent – whereby landlords or their agents must check the immigration status of all prospective tenants and those in their households – went live on February 1 in England.
Further roll-outs to the rest of the UK are due, but the schedule has not been announced.
The Residential Landlords Association said it is supporting attempts to get Right to Rent’s commencement order cancelled.
The RLA said that the evidence from the pilot scheme in the west midlands that ran from December 2014 was insufficient to merit the roll-out.
It said landlords had not been sufficiently prepared for the scheme; had not been given the right information; and that UK nationals without a passport would find it “extremely difficult” to access private rented housing.
In a recent survey of almost 1,500 landlords, the RLA found that over 90% had not received any information about Right to Rent, either by email, from an advert, from a leaflet or online, and 72% did not understand their obligations.
The RLA said that tenants would be hit in the pocket, with over a quarter of landlords looking to increase rents to cover the costs of carrying out the checks.
Almost half (44%) said they would only let their properties to people with documents that they were familiar with, while 45% said they would only accept tenants who could provide the required documentation immediately.
The RLA said it fully supported “pausing” the roll-out.
http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/halt-right-to-rent-roll-out-now-two-peers-launch-bid-this-week/
