The Right to Rent for Tenants, Landlord or Letting Agents and The Requirements Under The Immigration Act 2014

Together with numerous changes brought to life by the Immigration Act 2014 that affect immigrants, some of its provisions have a significant impact for a broad segment of UK population. Starting from April 2015 the section 22 of this act came to force nationwide affecting the landlord and tenants alike. The Act provides that a landlord should not authorise an adult to occupy property as their only or main home under a residential tenancy agreement unless the adult is a British citizen, or EEA or Swiss national, or has a “right to rent” in the UK. As landlords in breach of section 22 may be liable for civil penalty of up to £3000, it is essential that they are aware and complying with the said regulation. The “right to rent” is linked to the person’s presence in UK, which should be lawful in accordance with Immigration laws. This indicates that there is a burden on Landlord to ascertain that they are not renting the property to a person who does not fall into the category of those with “right to rent”. We can provide a simple solution for landlords to be confident they are safeguarding themselves from being in breach of the section 22 of Immigration Act 2014: We will conduct a details document check to ascertain that the potential tenant is either British, EEA or Swiss national, or has right of abode in UK is sufficient defence against civil liability. We will provide guidance to ever Landlord to assist them to make a distinction between British, EEA or Swiss national, as this category has an unlimited right to rent, and those with time limited right to rent. In case of British, EEA or Swiss nationals, as well as those who have Indefinite Leave to Remain in UK, a document check is done at the onset of the tenancy agreement. We will provide guidance and remind landlords of which individuals from European are considered EEA nationals. Currently all nationals from the following countries are considered to be EEA: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Renting to EEA nationals is not limited and the landlord will not face penalty for it. We, we will provide records of our checks and copies of the ID and nationality documents provided by the individuals as a means to proving the landlords compliance with the rules, should the need arise. We will provide a detailed certification report for each tenants right to rent, and periodical follow-up checks for those with limited right to rent Detailed Report and Verification Certificate of Tenants with Limited Right to Rent Those with time limited right to rent are a separate category and need handled differently. Time limited right to rent is granted to those who have valid leave to enter and remain in UK. In order to maintain defence from civil liability when renting to such a person a document check on the onset of the agreement is not enough. The landlord is under obligation of doing periodical follow-up checks. An important distinction in this respect is that the family members of EEA nationals who are not citizens of EEA countries themselves fall into this second category. As such, should any of your adult tenants have different citizenship then British, EEA or Swiss, you will need to conduct follow-up document checks. This rules apply only to adult occupiers. Also, the secretary of State may grant permission to rent to a person whose Immigration status would otherwise leave them with no right to rent. The liability for civil penalty rests also on occupier who sub-lets. In case of acquiring a property with sitting occupier, the new landlord should confirm with the previous landlord that checks have been made, or risk facing civil liability. Services for Tenants Tenants are advised to remember that the landlords now have statutory obligation to report any tenant who no longer has the right to rent to Home Office. We can provide the following: We will provide a detailed certification report for you and any of your dependants or joint tenants/occupiers right to rent, and provide periodical follow-up checks for those with limited right to rent Our Services: Certification of Right To Rent In order to receive a detailed certification report of your tenants right to rent or if you are a tenant and need to provide a certification report of your right to rent we strongly recommend an initial consultation with one of our specialist Immigration solicitors to start preparing your certification report. Landlord and Tenants Services To find out whether you fall under section 22 rules, or how to establish statutory excuse, as well as how to avoid negative outcome for a tenant with time limited right to rent or how to obtain a permission to rent, we recommend both the landlords and tenants consult on of our friendly Immigration solicitor on the matter, before entering an agreement.