Government warned on Right To Rent - landlords can't meet guidelines

The government is being warned landlords won’t be able to meet new guidelines being set for Right To Rent once the Coronavirus crisis subsides.

At the moment so-called ‘adjusted checks’ are in use to test that would-be tenants fulfil Right to Rent requirements - and this does not involve face-to-face meetings between landlord and tenant. 

However, the government has now revealed it expects both landlords and agents to retrospectively complete full R2R checks on those whose tenancies have started during the virus period. 

Lettings agents’ group ARLA Propertymarket has written to MP Kevin Foster - the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Minister for Future Borders and Immigration, based at the Home Office - saying the industry is likely to be unable to meet this demand. 

“Given the volume of checks that will now have built up, the majority of letting agents and landlords will undoubtedly fail to comply with the requirement to deliver retrospective checks” the letter says.

One of the biggest problems is that next year already sees widespread changes which will impact on landlords’ and agents’ workloads, even without the retrospective R2R checks.

The association points out that in the near future agents and landlords will also have to adopt new digital checks for overseas applicants while also accommodating full in person checks including those for overseas nationals who elect to use other forms of identity documents. 

Additionally, agents and landlords will be managing the transition between December 2020 and June 2021 of applicants who have not yet applied to the EU Settlement Scheme. “Previous acceptance of freedom of movement means that letting agents will not have records of the nationality of existing tenants who have been cleared for a permanent Right to Rent” ARLA warns in the letter.

You can see the full text of the letter here. 

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