Landlords To Have Say In Right To Rent Case

Landlords will have a major role to play in a court case considering the future of the government’s Right to Rent scheme. The government has decided to appeal against a damning criticism by the High Court earlier this year that the Right to Rent breaches human rights law because it causes racial discrimination that otherwise would not happen. Following a Judicial Review of the policy secured by the JCWI and supported by the RLA, the presiding judge concluded that discrimination by landlords was taking place “because of the scheme.” In his judgment he said that discrimination by landlords was “logical and wholly predictable” when faced with potential sanctions and penalties for getting things wrong. Read more on the RLA website.

https://news.rla.org.uk/landlords-to-have-say-in-right-to-rent-case/

Leadership Hopefuls Told Right To Rent Must Be Scrapped

Conservative Party leadership candidates Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are being urged to scrap the controversial Right to Rent scheme. A coalition of organisations made up of the Residential Landlords Association, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and the3million, which represents EU citizens in the UK, have united in calling on both candidates to scrap the policy after the High Court ruled it causes discrimination against British ethnic minorities. Following a Judicial Review of the policy secured by the JCWI and supported by the RLA, the presiding judge concluded that discrimination by landlords was taking place “because of the Scheme.” Read more on the RLA website.

https://news.rla.org.uk/leadership-hopefuls-told-right-to-rent-must-be-scrapped/

High Court Agrees To Review Of Right To Rent Policy

The High Court has given permission for a legal review to be launched into the Government’s Right to Rent policy. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) has been granted permission by the High Court to proceed with their legal challenge against the policy, which the RLA supports. Right to Rent is a flagship part of the ‘hostile environment’ strategy for illegal immigrants introduced by the Prime Minister whilst she was at the Home Office. Read more on the RLA website.

https://news.rla.org.uk/right-to-rent-judicial-review-bid-heard-in-high-court/

Landlords Back Bid To Overturn Right To Rent

The country’s leading landlord organisation is supporting efforts to overturn a flagship immigration policy, saying its members won’t be “scapegoats for the failures of the border agencies.” Under the Right to Rent Scheme landlords are responsible for checking the immigration status of their tenants with the prospect of prosecution if they know or have “reasonable cause to believe” that the property they are letting is occupied by someone who does not have the right to rent in the UK. Now, the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) is supporting a Judicial Review of the policy being sought today by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) which argues that the policy discriminates against foreign nationals. Read more on the RLA website.

https://news.rla.org.uk/rla-backs-legal-bid-overturn-right-right/

JCWI To Challenge Home Office Over Right-To-Rent

The Joint Council for Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) has written to the Home Office to call for a halt to the rollout of the scheme of the Government’s Right-to-Rent scheme awaiting a full evaluation of its impact in England. The Joint Council is threatening to take legal action if the Government continues to implement the policy, which is yet to expand beyond England. Saira Grant, Chief Executive of JCWI, said: “In the face of clear evidence of discrimination under Right-to-Rent, the Government must show it is not acting illegally before it presses ahead with a rollout to the rest of the UK.”Read more on the NLA website.

Right To Rent Not Working

Right to rent checks are not working, with more and more landlords afraid to rent to those without British passports, according to a new report by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI). It shows that the Government’s crackdown on illegal immigrants is creating a climate of fear amongst landlords. The charity is calling on the government to abandon the scheme. JCWI’s research suggests that landlords who have no wish to discriminate are being forced to do so by the scheme – with people who have a full right to rent a home in the UK being disadvantaged, along with others who should be able to access housing. It claims the scheme creates ‘structural incentives’ for landlords to discriminate unlawfully against foreigners and ethnic minorities. Read more on the RLA website.

Right to Rent Pilot Branded A ‘Fiasco’ By Top Housing Lawyer

A leading housing lawyer has condemned feedback on the Right to Rent pilot scheme as a fiasco and  “even worse than I expected”. Giles Peaker was commenting on the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) report on the Right to Rent pilot that has been taking place in the west midlands since last December. Peaker, a partner at law firm Anthony Gold, said the policy “is going to have to take some quite astonishing justification in any Home Office evaluation to take forward nationally.  “It is, on a purely practical basis, a fiasco”. The JCWI report found that 69% of landlords do not feel they should be made to undertake checks and 77% are not in favour of a national roll-out. Read more on the propertyindustryeye website.