Almost one in five landlords are now less likely to supply rented housing to European nationals as a result of the immigration checks they are expected to make.

Confusion over how landlords will be expected to identify which EU nationals will and won’t be able to reside in the UK after Brexit is being blamed for the growing caution among landlords.

Leaked documents reported today on the Government’s plans for immigration following Brexit fail to make any reference to how landlords will be expected to know which EU nationals will have a legitimate right to rented housing.

Under the Government’s Right to Rent scheme landlords are legally responsible for ensuring their tenants have a right to rented housing in the UK.

The results are part the Residential Landlords Association’s soon to be published quarterly survey of almost 2,800 landlords on the regulation of the private rented sector.

RLA Policy Director, David Smith, said: “The Government is leaving landlords and EU nationals in a state of legal limbo over their housing.

“Ministers need to urgently set out the steps that will be taken to enable landlords to easily identify which EU nationals will and won’t have the right to rent.

“Without this, and faced with the threat of prosecution for getting things wrong, landlords will only become even more cautious about renting to EU nationals.”

Written by Victoria Barker

Blog Post from Residential Landlords Association

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