From the 13th February the government, via the Home Office, has increased fines and penalties for landlords who do not abide by the regulations when renting property in respect of ‘Right to Rent’ checks. These are designed to ensure that any migrants who are in the UK illegally are prevented from renting a property. 

The updated rules now mean that landlords and letting agents who do not follow the procedures, when vetting a tenant could face being fined up to £20,000. These new rules from the Home Office state that landlords will fined up to £5000 for a lodger and £10,000 per occupier, if they are found to be illegal migrants. 

And for landlords who continue to flout the regulations, they risk further fines of up to £10,000 per lodger and £20,000 per occupier. 

The Home Office’s latest landlord’s guide to Right to Rent checks recently released states that: “All landlords in England have a responsibility to prevent those without lawful immigration status from accessing the private rented sector(PRS). 

“This is done by conducting Right to Rent checks on all prospective adult tenants before the start date of a tenancy agreement, to make sure the person is not disqualified from renting a property by reason of their residence status. 

Agents should be making sure their landlords are covered and that their vetting processes are robust. The use of identity document validation technology, which the government approved use of a few years ago, means it's now much simpler for property agents to ensure that their client landlords are compliant.