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Landlords back bid to overturn right to rent scheme

The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) is supporting efforts to overturn a flagship immigration policy. 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.

The RLA is supporting a Judicial Review of the policy being sought by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) which argues that the policy discriminates against foreign nationals. The RLA is also supporting a similar case being brought by the Camden Community Law Centre.

The fear of criminal sanctions has made many landlords reluctant about renting to non-UK nationals out of fear of being duped by forged documents. Research by the JCWI has found that the scheme has made 51% of landlords less likely to consider letting to foreign nationals. This is backed up by similar research by the RLA which it will be using to support both cases. Despite requests for it, the Home Office has refused to publish a database of what all acceptable forms of identification for the scheme look like, arguing that there are simply too many from countries around the world.

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