industry news


Prison threat for landlords letting to tenants with no passport


Home Secretary’s threat to imprison them for breaking more stringent Right to Rent checks. As part of a series of measures designed to


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crackdown on immigration, Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced that landlords will face harsher penalties for renting out to migrants staying in the UK illegally. In an eye-catching line from her Conservative conference speech, Ms Rudd said “Landlords who knowingly rent out property to people who have no right to be here will be committing a criminal offence. They could go to prison.” A new survey conducted by the Residential


Landlords Association (RLA), has found 43 per cent of private landlords are less likely to let to people without a UK passport, due to enhanced checks on tenants’ immigration status being required. This is because they feared criminal sanctions if they were tricked by false documents. It is understood about 17 per cent of UK


citizens do not have a passport, meaning they could be wrongly denied housing, as they inadvertently lose out under the immigration checks.


Immigration


Nearly two thirds of private landlords said they were also less likely to rent to migrants who are legally in Britain, but only have permission to stay for a limited period, while 56 per cent said they were less likely to rent to someone from outside Europe. The RLA survey was carried out to assess the


impact of the Right to Rent scheme since it was introduced in February 2016 to make the UK less attractive to illegal immigrants. It was based on interviews with 810 landlords, 507 of whom had carried out a right to rent check in the previous six months. The Migration Observatory at the University


orried private landlords are becoming reluctant to let properties to their fellow citizens after the


of Oxford has reported that foreign-born residents are almost three times more likely than British citizens to live in the private rented sector. Landlords who fail to check that potential


tenants have the right to be in Britain already face a fine of up to £3,000. From December, landlords who knowingly rent to people without permission to be in the UK now face a prison sentence. Two thirds of the landlords polled said they


were worried they might make a mistake or be caught out by forged documents and be unfairly fined. Only 13 per cent said they had found a Home Office advice line helpful.


Fears


Dave Smith, the RLA policy director, said “These findings confirm our fears. Those who cannot easily prove their right to live in the UK, whether they are British or not, are finding it harder to access homes to rent. This is particularly concerning for those UK nationals without a passport, many of them the most vulnerable in society.


“Two thirds of landlords were worried to be caught out by forged documents and unfairly fined”


“Landlords are quite reasonably becoming


ultra cautious to avoid tough criminal sanctions and need reassurance that they will not be punished when they get fooled by false documents. They are not trained immigration officers.” Smith called for clarity about the status of EU nationals living in Britain to prevent


landlords from becoming nervous about continuing to rent to them if their legal


position changes. The RLA wants clear guidance from the


Director of Public Prosecutions that says landlords who try to do the right thing but are caught by forged documents will not be prosecuted. The Home Office say that a range of


documents were accepted to satisfy the checks. The Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill added “We have made crystal clear that landlords will only be prosecuted if they knowingly rent to illegal migrants and that we will not criminalise those who have simply made a mistake or been misled by forged documents.” This line appears to be less dogmatic than the


Home Secretary’s speech, but so far this less draconian message does not appear to have got through to landlords.


Amber Rudd, Home Secretary


Landlord pays £10,000 after properties deemed a fire risk


A Worthing landlord has been forced to pay more than £10,000 after fire inspectors found his properties were substandard and posed a risk of serious injury to tenants. Gary Mobsby, of Brighton Road, Worthing


pleaded guilty to seven offences and was fined £5,018 for failing to properly manage his rental property. He was also fined £2,900 and ordered to pay £2,118 costs to Adur and Worthing Councils, relating to seven breaches of The Licensing and Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Additional Provisions)


(England) Regulations 2007. Flats in a three-storey property in Shelley


Road, Worthing, owned by Mobsby had no functioning fire detection system, inadequate fire doors and they fell short of building regulations. An inspection by Worthing Council’s Private


Sector Housing team and Building Control found that doors to the flats did not provide adequate fire and smoke protection. DIY work carried out by Mobsby to turn larger properties into smaller flats for him to rent out was substandard. The


18 | HMM January 2017 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


works undertaken to create self-contained flats was not to building regulation standards and did not provide adequate fire protection. Bruce Reynolds, Adur and Worthing Councils


Private Sector Housing Manager, said “Our investigations uncovered a history of poor maintenance of the fire detection system and of the structure of the building as a whole. If there had been a fire, tenants would have been unaware of it until it was too late. Due to the seriousness of the conditions we found, prosecution was the only option.”


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