The course provides an overview of UK immigration law and the potential impact of Brexit, and explains the controls on the right to rent in detail to make sure landlords, leasing agents or homeowners understand the process and avoid coercive action. This guide tells you how to verify the right to rent accommodation privately. It is important to note that our policy on landlord law has always been to refer you to the correct government guidance page, rather than providing you with specific guidance. Please note that if you use a paid service, tenant fee legislation prohibits passing this cost on to applicants in the form of a fee.
You should treat it as a business expense, which is just one part of being a homeowner. Landlords and agents must verify the immigration status of adults who will be living on the property before the lease begins. If your permission to stay in the UK has a time limit, the landlord must carry out another check within a year or when your visa ends, whichever is later. If you have a right to rent for a limited time, for example, because you have previous resident status under the EU Settlement Plan or because you have been granted refugee status, the landlord will need to do a follow-up check. The Joint Council for Immigrant Welfare also has a confidential helpline for undocumented migrants on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10am to 1pm, on 0207 553 7470, and can offer specialized immigration advice on whether undocumented migrants can qualify for a rental permit from the Ministry of the Interior. Everyone who has a legal permit to stay in the United Kingdom has the right to rent residential housing as a sole or main residence.
Otherwise, you don't need to use the online service if you can prove your right to rent with an original document. If you allow your property to be sublet, it's the tenant's responsibility to check the right to rent of anyone to whom you sublet the property. If your tenant does not complete the checks on your tenants' right to rent, you will be responsible for any applicable fines. It states that Commonwealth citizens who have lived in the UK permanently since before 1973 and who have not been outside the UK for extended periods over the past 30 years have the right to live in the UK and rent property. In addition, controls on the right to rent only need to take place in England, not in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. For those with limited time stay in the UK, landlords and leasing agents are legally required to re-check the right to rent if the identity document you provide belongs to “List B”, as these documents only allow you to establish a legal excuse for a limited time. However, if you leave your host's home and rent a property from a private owner in England as a primary residence, you'll need to prove that you have the right to rent.
If landlords don't carry out these checks, they can evict you (the law requires you to leave) and they risk being fined or even sent to prison. However, even though these people automatically have the right to rent, it is necessary for all adult applicants to verify that they have it. Private landlords have to check if a potential tenant has the right to rent, by checking if they have permission to enter or stay in the UK. If you or someone you live with doesn't have this right, then landlords can evict everyone from their property. Before Brexit, citizens of EU countries, EEA countries and Switzerland had an unlimited right to rent in the UK.
If someone needs a permit but doesn't have one, they don't have this right.
