Immigration checks to be rolled out

The Queens Speech today (Wednesday) will outline the Conservative's Government policy of making landlords responsible for checking the immigration status of their prospective tenants.

Originally, the former coalition had only proposed a number of pilot schemes but the new Government will make landlords the first line of defence against illegal immigration into the UK.

Commenting on the legislation the Prime Minister said:

“For the first time we’ve had landlords checking whether their tenants are here legally. The Liberal Democrats only wanted us to run a pilot on that one. But now we’ve got a majority, we will roll it out nationwide, and we’ll change the rules so landlords can evict illegal immigrants more quickly.

“We’ll also crack down on the unscrupulous landlords who cram houses full of illegal migrants, by introducing a new mandatory licensing regime. And, a bit like ending jobs when visas expire, we’ll consult on cancelling tenancies automatically at the same point”

The exact details of how the scheme will effect landlords will be worked out as the legislation works it's way through Parliament.  Clearly, it will add another layer of administration to landlords looking to let property.  However, how onerous this turns out to be will depend on the detailed legislation yet to be worked out.

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