Article
Immigration Act 2014: right to rent checks
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The Immigration Act 2014 imposes new duties on landlords, agents or householders renting out residential properties to carry out checks to ensure that all prospective adult tenants have a right to rent property in the UK.
These duties came into force on 1 February 2016.
Scope: who is allowed to rent?
A landlord is prohibited from authorising occupation by an adult unless the adult is a British citizen, or a European Economic Area or Swiss national, or has a "right to rent" in the UK (i.e. they are present lawfully in accordance with immigration laws).
Obligation to check
Under the scheme introduced by the legislation, checks have to be made in respect of anyone who will be occupying the property as their only or main home, whether or not they are a party to the tenancy agreement. Those checks must be carried out and recorded within the 28 days before the tenancy agreement is entered into: this involves seeing originals of documents that allow the tenant to live in the UK.
In what circumstances do the duties apply?
The new duties apply in respect of a residential tenancy agreement (which includes any lease, licence, sub-lease or sub-tenancy) that grants a right of occupation for residential use, at a rent, and is not an agreement specifically excluded from the scheme by the legislation.
The scheme applies only to residential tenancy agreements first entered into on or after the date on which the scheme applies to property in the location concerned. No checks are required for tenancies granted before that date, nor upon renewal of such tenancies where the renewal is between the same parties and occupation has continued without a break.
While there is no requirement for all those living at the property to be named in the tenancy agreement, government guidance suggests that it would be advisable to do so.
Compliance and default
A landlord may be served with a notice requiring the payment of a penalty of a specified amount (of up to £3,000) where they have let property to an unqualified person.
In practice
Although in practice the scheme is likely to have most direct impact on lettings agents in the residential lettings market, there may be other situations in which property owners or developers will need to be alive to the requirements for such checks to be carried out. An example of this might be a developer acquiring property in circumstances in which the seller is to be allowed to remain in short-term occupation pending later development.
Those landlords who are subject to the new scheme can avoid a penalty by establishing a statutory excuse against liability, which they can do by conducting simple document checks before allowing adults to occupy rented accommodation.
Detailed guidance on the operation of the scheme is available here.
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