From today, changes to Right to Rent legislation will come into force, affecting checks for some groups of tenants.
You can see the guidance which is now force here.
Biometric Card Holders
From today, landlords must check the right to rent of those tenants with a Biometric Residence Card, Biometric Residence Permit, or Frontier Worker via the Home Office online check. Physical checks of cards are no longer acceptable, even if the card shows an expiry date which is later than today.
However, retrospective checks where there has been a previous physical check of a card carried out before 06/04/2022 are not required.
UK and Irish Passport Holders
Also, from today, digital checks for UK and Irish citizens will be allowed via an Identity Service Provider (‘IDSP’). The IDSP will need to be certified by UK Accreditation Service and meet the requirements of the UK Digital Identity Attributes Trust Framework. A list of certified IDSPs has been provided by the government here.
Of course, landlords must provide alternative means to check a prospective tenant’s right to rent and should carry out a physical check if needed, to avoid discrimination against those who do not hold passports.
Landlords should note that the current Covid-related changes to right to rent checks (i.e., remote checking) remain in place until 30/09/2022. See here for more detail.
Acceptable Documents
There are also changes to the lists of acceptable documents (‘Annex A’) from today, as follows:
- Documents issued by the Home Office to a family member of an EEA or Swiss citizen, which indicated that the holder had permission to stay in the United Kingdom have been removed.
- Biometric Immigration Documents (Biometric Residence Card or Permit) issued by the Home Office have been removed.
- Frontier worker permits issued under regulation 8 of the Citizens' Rights (Frontier Workers) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 have been removed.
- A Certificate of Application (digital or non-digital) confirming a valid application to the EU Settlement Scheme on or after 01/07/2021, together with a Positive Right to Rent Notice from the Landlords Checking Service, has been added.
- An application for leave to enter or remain under Appendix EU to the Isle of Man Immigration Rules has been added and reference to applications submitted on or before 30/06/2021 have been removed.
If you need support in relation to any residential landlord law related issue, then get in touch with Rebecca at Landlord Support for some free and friendly initial advice followed by fixed fee support throughout your case:
01704 790 532
rebecca@landlord-support.co.uk
www.landlord-support.co.uk