The Home Office has confirmed that the West Midlands is to be the "pilot area" for immigration checks by landlords under the Immigration Act 2014, as part of a phased introduction throughout the country.
Landlords in Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton will be required to carry out checks on prospective tenants' immigration status from 1 December 2014. Other areas are set to follow in 2015, although the date has not yet been confirmed.
The Government have released a comprehensive 'Code of Practice' for landlords and managing agents, which at the moment is in draft format. You can view it by clicking here.
The requirement will apply to all tenancies, leases for less than seven years, sub-lets or lodging arrangements granted on or after 1 December 2014 in the affected areas. Existing or renewal agreements granted before this date will not be affected.
The Code of Practice suggests that it would be prudent for landlords to carry out checks on all prospective tenants, even if their immigration status is obvious, in order to avoid discrimination. Close family members of the landlord, where the landlord is satisfied as to their immigration status, are exempt. Children under the age of 18 years old are also exempt.
Landlords will be required to take copies of ID for each tenant from the published lists, depending on whether the tenant has the right to be in the UK indefinitely or whether there is a time limit on their stay. If a person has the right to remain in the UK without any restrictions, follow-up checks will not be necessary. For prospective tenants that have a time limit or other restrictions on their stay, landlords will need to complete follow-up checks. Landlords who fail to carry out initial checks or continuing checks face a fine of up to £3,000 per tenant.
The landlord can delegate this responsibility to managing agents by entering into a written agreement with the agent before the commencement of the tenancy. If the requirements are breached, it will be the agent who is liable for the penalty. Many landlords and managing agents carry out such checks already as a matter of routine, and so will have the correct documentation to hand. Copies will need to be kept for one year after the tenancy has come to an end.
The Home Office have also set up a free online checking service to assist landlords, with a promise of a two-day turnaround for a response. This isn't yet available online, so look out for this soon. A helpline is also available (0300 069 9799).
Repair issues and eligibility to use the accelerated possession procedure
The Government have announced its backing to proposals which seek to prevent landlords from evicting tenants who have raised issues of disrepair, or where health and safety hazards have been found to exist at the property, using the accelerated possession procedure. The Bill, in its current format, aims to do the following:
- Prevent a landlord from serving a Section 21 Notice on a tenant within six months of service of an improvement notice, a hazard awareness notice or a notice of remedial action under the Housing Act 2004.
- Prevent a landlord from serving a Section 21 Notice within six months of a "relevant complaint". A relevant complaint is a notification in writing of any defect which would give rise to the repairing duty under S11 of The Landlord and Tenants Act 1985, or that the premises are prejudicial to health, or that a hazard exists at the premises.
- Prevent the landlord from serving a Section 21 Notice in the absence of a current gas safety certificate or EPC.
- It will be a defence to claim for possession if a tenant can show that the S21 Notice was served within the "relevant period" (six months).
- Except where the landlord does not have a gas safety certificate or energy performance certificate, a landlord may still recover possession where they have entered into a contract for sale of the property before the Court hearing.
In its current form, the Bill leaves a lot of questions unanswered, for example, whether a "relevant complaint" would be valid if made to the landlord's agent rather than the landlord directly. The Bill is due to undergo a second reading in the House of Commons on 28 November 2014.
