Landlords in England who repeatedly fail to check a new tenant’s immigration status before agreeing a lease could face up to five years in jail.
According to Propertywire.com,
as part of a wider crackdown on immigration, new rules for landlords
mean that they will also be expected to evict tenants who lose the right
to live in England.
They will be able to end tenancies,
sometimes without a court order, when asylum requests fail, according to
Communities Secretary Greg Clark as he announced that the government
will not tolerate rogue landlords who make money out of illegal
immigration.
The changes which hare part of the new
Immigration Bill and follow a pilot in the West Midlands come as the
British and French governments struggle to deal with a migrant crisis in
Calais where large numbers of people are making nightly bids to cross
the Channel to reach the UK.
Clark explained that under the proposals
for landlords in England, the Home Office would issue a notice when an
asylum application fails that confirms the tenant no longer has the
right to rent property.
He also said that a blacklist of rogue
landlords and letting agents will be created to allow councils to keep
track of those who have been convicted of housing offences and ban them
from renting out properties if they are repeat offenders.
Richard
Lambert, chief executive of the National Landlords Association,
described the proposals as a welcome step forward, although he said he
is ‘slightly concerned’ that the 40 year old principle that it has to be
a court that ends a tenancy is changing.
He suggests that there is a danger that
those being evicted end up doing something desperate such as barricading
themselves inside a property.
“I think that we need to think through the consequences of the kind of systems we are putting into place,” he added.
Managing Director, Association of Residential Letting Agents, David Cox welcomed the proposals in principle.
He said, ‘The
plans will help to weed out the minority of rogue landlords who exploit vulnerable immigrants for their own financial gain and, with the introduction of a new five year imprisonment penalty, will help to deter other such unscrupulous individuals from entering the private rented sector.
plans will help to weed out the minority of rogue landlords who exploit vulnerable immigrants for their own financial gain and, with the introduction of a new five year imprisonment penalty, will help to deter other such unscrupulous individuals from entering the private rented sector.
“The proposals also build upon the Right
to Rent checks as imposed by the Immigration Act 2014, which we expect
to be rolled out nationally following a pilot scheme in the West
Midlands. We will be organising training sessions for our members to
ensure they are fully prepared and understand the new rules and we urge
all letting agents to ensure they are ready for the impending roll out.”
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