BUYDavid Cox, managing director of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), comments on the Home Office’s announcement on the roll out of Right to Rent checks as part of the Immigration Act 2014: “We welcome the Home Office’s announcement today that the Right to Rent checks will be rolled out nationally from 1 February 2016, following a pilot scheme in the West Midlands. The pilot was a success and we are pleased that letting agents reported that the scheme actually assisted, rather than hindered, their own ID checks. The roll out will continue to help to weed out the minority of rogue landlords who exploit vulnerable immigrants for their own financial gain – as seen during the pilot scheme. The Immigration Bill 2015 will further develop these plans when passed next year, through harsher penalties (including criminal offences), aimed at those landlords and unregulated agents that aren’t complying with basic laws.
“Implementing the scheme across the whole of England, instead in further pilot phases, will also remove any confusion from landlords and agents about whether they are required to comply. However, it’s really important that the Government works with the private rental sector to prepare and inform professionals working in the sector, in advance of the new regime so that well-meaning landlords and agents do not fall foul of the new legislation unknowingly.”
