A survey carried out by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) found that 82% of landlords oppose the Government’s plan to make landlords legally responsible for checking the immigration status of their tenants.
The RLA believes that the proposal will jeopardise good landlord/tenant relationships and by requiring evidence of citizenship, it will call into question the rights of many who are legally entitled to British residency.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Chris Town, the RLA’s Vice Chairman said: “Many British people do not have a passport and for those tenants on housing benefits, without passports, this will create an added difficulty for landlords. Whilst the RLA fully supports measures to ensure everyone in the UK legally resides here, this policy continues to smack of political posturing rather than a seriously thought through policy.
“For a Government committed to reducing the burden of red tape it is ironic that they are now seeking to impose a significant extra burden on landlords making them scapegoats for the UK Border Agency’s failings.”
Government formally announced last week that Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton would all trial the policy from the 1st December 2014.
