Right to Rent starts

Our latest burden begins today - border control.

The Right to Rent regime requires all landlords to check an original copy of one of the following documents, as well as making a copy for their records which they then must retain for a minimum period of one year -

• UK passport;
• EEA passport or identity card;
• permanent residence card or travel document showing indefinite leave to remain;
• Home Office immigration status document; or
• certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen.

To correctly check a prospective tenant's documentation, a landlord needs to confirm -

• the documents are the originals.
• the dates on the documentation gives the tenant the right to stay in the UK.
• any photos on the documents actually looks like the tenant.
• any dates of birth correspond to other documents and match the appearance of the tenant.
• documents don't appear to have been altered.
• names correspond to any other supporting documents. 

Failure to do these checks could leave a landlord liable to a fine of up to £3,000.

More in the news on today's Right to Rent launch -

Download the user guide for making Right to Rent checks from GOV.UK: https://t.co/Xy6JV3Azkn pic.twitter.com/LqO2ChOv6D

— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) January 21, 2016

Checking a tenant’s Right to Rent is easy – follow the simple steps at: https://t.co/OFM5QltyBu

— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) January 20, 2016

The England roll out for Right to Rent starts in Feb, read the updated code of practice here https://t.co/5imW3SpVvp

— ARLA (@arla_uk) January 19, 2016

"The role of landlords on the frontline of immigration control is only just beginning" #ukhousing https://t.co/EM6kMjsKsC

— Guardian Housing (@GuardianHousing) February 1, 2016

Buy-to-let landlords must check the immigration status of new tenants from today or face fines of up to £3,000 https://t.co/65Nz3ulaCf

— This is Money (@thisismoney) February 1, 2016

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