The UK Government has produced recent guidance for the Right to Rent scheme which becomes compulsory on 1 February 2016.
The scheme was introduced as a part of the Immigration Act 2014 and applies to all new tenancies starting on or after December 2014. Under section 22 of the Immigration Act 2014 a landlord should not authorise an adult to occupy property as their only or main home under a residential tenancy agreement unless the adult is a British citizen, or EEA or Swiss national, or has a 'right to rent' in the UK.
Landlords in the private rental sector are required to conduct checks on new tenants to establish if they have a legal right to be in the UK. Some types of property and residential tenancy agreements are excluded from the new rules, in particular, local authority tenants, social housing, certain types of student accommodation, continuing health providers and long leases.
Landlords have the option to appoint an agent to act on their behalf, however, where an agent has accepted responsibility for compliance with the scheme, the agent will be the liable party in place of the landlord.
Landlords or their agents who rent to a tenant who does not fulfil the criteria without having conducted the appropriate checks may be liable for a civil penalty. Landlords can establish a statutory excuse against liability by conducting document checks before allowing adults to occupy rented accommodation, to ensure that prospective occupiers have the right to rent in the UK.
The scheme was piloted in the West Midlands from December 2014, evaluated six months later and is now set to be fully implemented. The Government's guidance has been timed to coincide with the roll out and is designed to assist with carrying out the Right to Rent checks.