Could “Right To Rent” Checks Put Domestic Violence Victims At Risk?

New “right to rent” rules essentially mean landlords must carry out a government-approved check on all prospective tenants to confirm that they have a right to live in the UK.  One group in particular that could suffer under the new rules: domestic violence victims, particularly if they are migrant women. Migrant women in the UK are also not entitled to legal aid, benefits, and may be at a disadvantage with language skills. Migrant women with documents, meanwhile, are likely to have them taken away by controlling partners: hiding a women's passport is a classic abuser tactic, and could affect non-migrants too, since landlords are technically meant to check every tenant's right to rent. Read more on the CityMetric website.

Landlords In England Get Ready For Right To Rent

The new law means that from 1 February 2016, landlords with property in England will have to carry out quick and simple checks to ensure potential tenants have the right to rent property in the UK. From the week commencing 4 January, landlords can start to carry out right to rent checks as these can be done from 28 days before the start of a tenancy agreement. The government has been working with an expert consultative panel, which includes trade bodies, local authorities and charities, to listen to feedback from the first phase of the scheme. The panel has advised on an updated landlords’ code of practice which includes changes to the acceptable document list to make it even simpler to conduct a check. Read more on the GovUK website.

More Than 2.5 Million People A Year Could Be Subject To New Immigration Checks To Rent A Home

Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) analysis of the English Housing Survey has revealed that approximately 2.6 million adults moved into and within the private rented sector in 2013-14. CIH said the number of people who will be subject to the new checks each year could easily be double that figure, based on a conservative estimate that each letting will involve two households being checked. CIH is warning that, faced with the potential scale of the task and the threat of a fine or even a jail sentence for failing to carry out the checks, landlords may simply discriminate against anyone they believe isn’t British, even if they have a legal right to live in the UK. Read more on the CIH website.

Housing Is In Crisis, yet the Coalition Does Nothing

The year has started with two pieces of good news to counteract an otherwise unending stream of grim revelations about Britain's housing crisis. First, the Scottish government has brought into force a law that will effectively end homelessness there, by requiring local authorities to house all involuntarily homeless people in settled accommodation. The second is that Newham council in east London is regulating the free-for-all in private rented housing by requiring landlords to have background checks before being licensed. Note that neither of these initiatives has come from the coalition, and therefore won't be applicable throughout Britain. But they're a start, and a promising one at that. The central message is that social inequalities are not inevitable: with enough political will and the persistence to see off pessimists, a desire for positive change can be made concrete – which is possibly why we've seen so little of it under the coalition.  Read more on the Guardian website.