I’ll admit that I have been totally unaware of this prior to a chance mention of it by someone in passing at the weekend and so I’m sure plenty of other landlords will also be blissfully unaware.

I guess a lot of landlords will farm the responsibility off to the Letting Agent but as a relatively new landlord (only ever had 1 tenant) currently looking for our next, we’ve preferred to sort the letting ourselves to meet and suss out potential tenants.

I can feel a lot of Googling going on to try and work our whether the supposed evidence is genuine or fake!

Fantastic! Another law, hastily sketched out on the back of a fag packet, as a knee jerk reaction to tabloid headlines, that will be all but impossible to enforce.

Passing the buck, this should be the home office / border agency controlling this.

Just ask for passports and work visas plus a letter signed by the tennents that they have the right to live and / or work in the UK. I think in practice a lot of landlords who are renting to suspect tennents will just ignore these new requirements so nothing will change.

Quick look suggests it’s pretty local in scope?

The right to rent checks only apply to:

Landlords, homeowners and letting agents in Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton

It all sounds a bit….

As employers we are meant to do something similar. Im supposed to record new employees passport numbers in the payroll system.

Not sure what Im supposed to do if i see a passport thats not British though.

Can’t see the problem with Landlords checking Tenants out myself, what exactly is your problem with it. After all it’s your property, you should be in control and look after it shouldn’t you?

Unless you DGAS, which is feasible.

Most will leave it up to Letting Agents, after all they check Passports as proof of ID, what’s wrong with private Landlords doing the same thing??

*is confused.

That’s my biggest worry. As a UK citizen and never having had to deal with any of the immigration paperwork, I can’t see how I’m supposed to filter out real paperwork from looky-likey, never mind tell if foreign identity documents are the real thing.

According to the government webpage, these are the documents I should be judging to make my decision:

A passport (current or expired) showing the holder is a British citizen or a citizen of the UK and Colonies having the right of abode in the UK.

A passport or national identity card (current or expired) showing the holder is a national of the EEA or Switzerland.

A Registration Certificate or document (current or expired) certifying permanent residence issued by the Home Office, to a national of an EU country, EEA country or Switzerland.

A Permanent Residence Card, indefinite leave to remain, indefinite leave to enter or no time limit card issued by the Home Office, to a non-EEA national the family member of a national of a EU country, EEA country or Switzerland.

A valid Biometric Residence Permit issued by the Home Office to the holder indicating that the person named is allowed to stay indefinitely in the UK, or has no time limit on their stay in the UK.

A passport (current or expired) endorsed to show that the holder is exempt from immigration control, is allowed to stay indefinitely in the UK, has the right of abode in the UK, or has no time limit on their stay in the UK.

A valid immigration status document issued by the Home Office to the holder with an endorsement indicating that the named person is permitted to stay indefinitely in the UK or has no time limit on their stay in the UK.

A certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen.

A full birth or adoption certificate issued in the UK, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or Ireland, which includes the name(s) of at least one of the holder’s parents or adoptive parents.

A letter issued within the last three months confirming the holder’s name issued by a UK government department or local authority and signed by a named official (giving their name and professional address) or British passport holder (giving their name, address and passport number) or issued by a person who employs the holder (giving their name and company address) confirming the holder’s status as an employee.

A letter from a UK police force, issued within the last three months, confirming that the person is the victim of crime, personal documents have been stolen and stating the crime reference number.

Evidence of the person’s previous or current service in HM armed forces.

HM prison discharge papers or a probation service letter.

A Disclosure and Barring Service certificate issued within the last three months.

A current full or provisional UK driving licence (both photocard and paper counterpart must be shown).

Benefits paperwork issued by HMRC, local authority or a Job Centre Plus, issued within the last three months.

A letter from a UK further or higher educational institution confirming the holder’s acceptance on a course of studies.

A current passport endorsed to show that the holder is allowed to stay in the UK for a time limited period.

A current Biometric Residence Permit issued by the Home Office to the holder, which indicates that the named person can currently stay in the UK for a time limited period.

A Residence Card or a Derivative Residence Card issued by the Home Office to a non-EEA national who is either a family member of a national of an EU country, EEA country or Switzerland or has a derived right of residence in the UK under EU law for a time limited period.

A valid Immigration Status Document issued by the Home Office to the holder with a valid endorsement indicating that the named person may stay in the UK for a time limited period.

Currently being trialled in Birmingham areas but full rollout to rest of UK next year.

Checking identity and immigration status are two very different things.

I don’t bother with letting agents but normally pay a few quid for a referencing company to check the tenants out properly, so expect this is the sort of thing they’ll bolt onto their service. Blummin hope so anyway!

If letting agents behave in the normal way, they will indeed bolt it on to their services.

For a hefty administration fee. To both you and the prospective tenant.

Can’t see the problem with Landlords checking Tenants out myself, what exactly is your problem with it. After all it’s your property, you should be in control and look after it shouldn’t you?

Unless you DGAS, which is feasible.

Most will leave it up to Letting Agents, after all they check Passports as proof of ID, what’s wrong with private Landlords doing the same thing??

It’s difficult enough for the professionals, and all it will do is increase costs for ALL tenants/landlords.

Just buck passing of the 1st degree and pandering to the (possible) UKIP/Tory voter.

As a landlord it is in my interests to assess the suitability of a tenant in terms of paying the rent, looking after the property and getting on with the neighbours. Only the extreme right would try and make tenuous correlation between these qualities and immigration status.

Do I get some free training for all these new skills I need to check immigration status?

It’s similiar to the employment rules- I look after a casual payroll of about 150 students, and a bunch of them just don’t have any of the ID now required. No passport, driver’s licence, no full birth certificate (you only get the short birth certificate now by default). Kind of gives the impression that the rules were drafted by people who can’t imagine that you won’t have needed a passport by the time you apply for a first job (probably in your 20s, after your degree and gap year) or god forbid that you might not have bought your kids a car for their 17th birthday. The guidance docs are about 30 pages long and it’s a £5000 fine if you don’t follow them to the letter.