Last week the Home Office announced the launch and roll-out of the Right-to-Rent Scheme accross England.
The Right-to-Rent scheme requires that all private landlords letting property in England from the 1st February 2016 will be required to check the immigration status of any prospective tenants before agreeing to establish a new tenancy. This means that landlords (and their agents) will need to check the prospective tenants right to be in the UK.
The requirements for carrying out these checks apply if you:
– are a private landlord
– have a lodger
– are sub letting a property
– are an agent appointed by a landlord to make the right to rent checks
There are a few exceptions to a couple of types of landlords that do not need to make checks. Details on these and further details on how to make a right to rent check can be found on the Governments website here.
From a tenants perspective, they must co-operate fully with the checks and provide the documentation required by the landlord to carry out the check, i,e UK passport, EEA passport/identity card, etc.
From a landlord perspective, it is even more important that they are fully converse with the new regulations and meeting the requirements immediatly as landlords that do not make the checks could be fined up to £3000 if they rent out a propoerty to somebody that is in the UK illegally.
Hence, the importance of working with a reputatble and professional lettings agency that is fully up to speed with and on top of even the finest details regarding the Right to Rent checks and meeting your requirements in the most efficienct and economical way possible. ie, work with Belvoir! Sheffield – take a look at the Belvoir! Sheffield range of landlord services, we can help with much more than simply marketing and managing your property.
