Government Revises Unpopular Right to Rent Legislation

Only one month after coming into effect, the government has been pressured into revising the unpopular Right to Rent legislation. The law as it was set out in the Immigration Bill would see landlords and letting agents face immediate criminal sanctions if it was discovered that they had failed to ensure their tenants had the legal right to rent property in the UK.

The Residential Landlords Associations (RLA) led the charge, campaigning to have the law changed, believing that it was unfair that a landlord could be penalised for failing to spot a fake passport. After all, they are not trained Border Force officers.

The changes will now give landlords some leeway. As long as ‘reasonable steps’ are taken in an appropriate time frame to terminate the tenancies of tenants who are found to be staying in the county illegally, landlords and their agents will not be in trouble with the law.

RLA chairman Alan Ward said: “The RLA warmly welcomes the government’s pragmatic changes to its right to rent scheme that will provide protection for good landlords from the unintended consequences of the policy.”

In another victory for landlords, the RLA says that the government will also be looking at possible changes to regulations that will allow landlords and agents to provide information such as tenancy deposit schemes to tenants via email instead of paper.

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