Landlords have for a long time in British society been demonised and certainly prior to the introduction in 1988 of The Housing Act, accusation could legitimately be levelled at certain individuals who did not show due care and regard to their tenants. Houses were often overcrowded, gas appliances not safe and evictions carried out which could be seen as retaliatory or without any meaningful notice.

The Housing Act was passed to address some of these issues and since then with revisions in 1996 and 2004 ever more protection has been given to tenants. This is of course undoubtedly a good thing.

However, to keep on the right side of the law, landlords must keep up to date with the latest legislation and with every new set of laws passed this is becoming more arduous a task. In the long run though most people accept that as a responsible landlord you have a duty to keep your tenants safe and so they just get on with it.

However, with the arrival of the Immigration Act of 2014, landlords are now being asked to go beyond ensuring their tenants’ safety and are actually being told to check that their tenants meet the government requirements for being allowed to live in the UK.

Given that many of the readers of my blog are based in the West Midlands, you may be reading this and thinking that this is old news. However, it is important to note that the West Midlands was a pilot area for legislation which as of Monday is being rolled out nationwide.

So what does this new legislation mean for landlords?

Well, from Monday 1st February all landlords will need to establish that the tenants they place in a property have the right to live in the UK. This means that as a landlord you will need to check your potential tenants’ passport and if they are from outside of the EU you will also need to check their visa paperwork. This is in addition to the usual address based ID which you would take.

Now if your tenants are British Citizens or are from a country within the EU then this may be the end of the story. However, if your tenants are from outside of the EU and have visas which allow them to stay in the UK then you also need to be checking the expiry dates to ensure that they are valid.

Moreover, you need to diarise to recheck their paperwork near the expiry date to ensure that they are still allowed to live in the UK.

As if this was not enough of a task already for a private landlord (bearing in mind that most landlords are ordinary people with full time jobs) you will also need to be aware of the ages of any children living at the property as these checks apply to all persons in the property over the age of 18.

So to give you an example, you might move a family into your property which comprises of two adults and three children. The children are aged 14, 15 and 16. As of the start of the tenancy you have made the necessary checks and established that the two adults are allowed to live in the UK. However, you then are required to recheck in 2, 3 and 4 years time as the three children reach 18 years of age.

Phew…!

If you’re thinking that you might as well just run the risk as this seems like too much hassle bear in mind that failure to comply can result in fines of up to £3,000. This really is not an option I would advocate any landlord takes.

However, I do have real sympathy with the private landlord and I genuinely feel that this latest raft of legislation is a step too far. The only viable alternative in my opinion is for landlords to use a reputable letting agent who can undertake to carry out these checks for you.

Given that we already have an enormous check list (to ensure we remain complaint), it really isn’t a massive issue to have another two or three checks to make prior to agreeing a tenancy. Furthermore, with the systems we have in place as well as the referencing partners we use, it is a whole lot easier for us as letting agents to track these sort of cases than a private landlord.

If you’re not up to speed with the legislation, this is a great linkhttps://www.gov.uk/check-tenant-right-to-rent-documents to lots of useful information.

Of course for practical help and advice (from someone who deals with this on a daily basis) you can also give me a call on 0121 405 0378.

Written by Daniel Sperber, Company Director of Concentric Birmingham South Branch