Home Office warns self-managing landlords’ over Right to Rent

Official research has found that self-managing landlords are the least prepared when dealing with the legal requirements of the official Right to Rent scheme.

It requires landlords of privately rented accommodation to conduct checks on all new tenants to establish if they have a legal right to be in the UK and therefore have the right to rent, with stiff penalties for those who knowingly dodge completing the checks.

The Government research included a ‘mystery shopper’ exercise involving 2,000 tenants who approached landlords and agents, plus some 300 interviews with landlords.

This was all undertaken by independent canvassers at BVA BDRC with Professor Kath Scanlon of The London School of Economics and Political Science.

Least likely

It found that those landlords who don’t use a letting agent are the least likely to fully understand their legal responsibilities when onboarding new tenants via the Right to Rent scheme.

Although overall awareness of the scheme has been growing fast since its introduction in 2015, only half of all landlords who claimed knowledge of the scheme considered themselves ‘well or quite well’ informed.

Read more: the ultimate guide to Right to Rent checks.

The survey also looked at whether the scheme had created greater discriminatory behaviour towards tenants by landlords, with 19% being aware of tenants being discriminated against on the basis of their ‘actual or perceived nationality, race or ethnic background’.

“It is clear from this review that self-managing landlords have a knowledge gap and it’s not surprising,” says Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark.

“Right to Rent has been through many complex changes in the last three years with COVID-19 lockdowns, the end of freedom of movement due to the UK’s exit from the EU and the introduction of the Home Office’s real time digital systems.

“Professional agents, particularly those in membership with a body like Propertymark, taking their compliance responsibilities seriously dedicate time and CPD to ensuring they are fully compliant.”

Read the Home Office report in full.