The High Court has ruled that the government’s Right to Rent scheme breaches human rights law. The Home Office says it will reassess the Right to Rent scheme following this decision by the High Court.
Immigration minister Caroline Noakes has told MPs that the government would appeal the decision and that in the meantime, at least, the measure remained in place with letting agents and landlords being obliged to make checks on prospective tenants.
The right to rent scheme, was introduced in February 2016 under the Immigration Act 2014, and requires all landlords in England to check whether new tenants have the right to be in the UK before renting out their property.
Landlords who fail to check a potential tenant’s immigration status face penalties of up to £3,000 per tenant and prison sentences of up to five years. It is a key element of the Home Office’s controversial ‘hostile environment’ policy and critics argue it has forced landlords to become border guards.
In 2018 the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants brought a case against the government, which was supported by The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) and Liberty, claiming the policy is incompatible with human rights on the grounds that it instigates discrimination against non-UK nationals who might be in the country legitimately and British ethnic minorities. A recent report from the Residential Landlords Association entitled ‘The Right to Rent Scheme and The Impact on The Private Sector,’ has found that 44 percent of landlords are less likely to consider letting to individuals without a British Passport.
Campaigners have highlighted that there are many reasons why some people may not have the relevant documents to prove their ‘right to rent’. These groups could include victims of domestic abuse or people awaiting a Home Office decision. The 2011 Census also showed that 17 percent of the population in England and Wales – 9.5 million people – do not have a passport. This means that millions of people are potentially facing discrimination in the renting sector.
The RLA is now calling on the government to accept the decision, scrap the Right to Rent, and ‘consider what else can be done to sensibly manage migration, without having to rely on untrained landlords to do the job of the Home Office.’
