Landlords could be slapped with immediate and unlimited fines and even face the prospect of a prison sentence if they rent their properties to tenants who do not have the right to rent in England.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has just updated its ‘right to rent’ rules alongside its ominous warning to all landlords.

It is mandatory for landlords to check the ‘right to rent’ status of any tenant 18 and over who pays rent for their ‘residence’.

This now applies even if the property has just been bought from another landlord with existing tenants in place.

There are punitive fines for landlords who rent their properties to tenants who they may have suspicions of not having the permission to enter and stay in the UK, whose papers are false or incorrect or their visa has expired.

There are far stricter rules on the actual evidence submitted as proof of a right to rent. However irrespective whether it can be determined that landlords would have had suspicions concerning their tenant’s status. Landlords can still be fined if they failed to carry out the necessary checks if it is found out that tenants do not have permission to stay in the UK.

Landlords are also reminded of the Coronavirus Crisis special rules that contains the temporary changes to the requirement of checks, which includes the use of video calls and allowance of digital documents.

Blog Post from PIMS

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