Bexley Borough Landlords could be fined £264,000 per year

“Who would want to come out for viewings in weather like this?” a landlord asked me as we shook hands outside his property. It was windy and cold, had been raining most of the day and it was the last appointment of the day at 5.45pm.

As I had been out of the office all day, I was looking forward to getting home and putting the fire on, but this landlord lived in neighbouring Dartford and it was the earliest he could manage. He had been self-managing the property over the last few years, but was worried about all the legislation that had been introduced recently. He was particularly concerned about the up and coming “Right to Rent” legislation so, as his tenant had handed in their notice, he called us for our opinion on his new tenancy.

The “Right to Rent” rules mean that landlords will need to check the immigration status of new tenants moving into properties from February 2016 or face a £3,000 fine. Tenants need to know that, as well as traditional landlords, tenants who sublet rooms and homeowners who take in lodgers must also check the right of prospective tenants to reside in the UK.

The landlord from Dartford wanted to know how important “Right to Rent” was for him. I was able to tell him that the last available figures (from a couple of years ago) show that 88 people registered as Non-UK born short-term residents moved into private rented accommodation in the Bexley Council area in just one year. If they had all been in the UK illegally, the landlords of the borough would have been collectively fined £264,000.

88 people doesn’t sound a lot considering that there are 284,754 residents in the Bexley Council area, of whom 247,162 (or 86.80%) were born in the UK. But Bexley Borough is a cosmopolitan suburb and the country of birth of the residents can be broken down as follows:

• UK ​​​​​86.80%

• Ireland ​​​​ 0.86%

• Europe ​​​​ 3.25%

• Africa ​​​​​ 4.34%

• Middle East and Asia ​​​ 3.79%

• Americas and Caribbean​​ 0.79%

• Australia and Pacific region ​​ 0.16%

By checking up on tenants, landlords could potentially be accused of discrimination under the Equality Act. This is a real minefield, especially considering that not all of the 9,242 Europeans in the area necessarily have the right to live in the UK either. Briefly, landlords will need to check and retain copies of certain documents that show a potential tenant has the right to live in the UK. These include:

• UK Passport

• EEA Passport/Identity card

• Travel document or Permanent Residence Card showing indefinite leave to remain

• Paperwork from Home Office stating their Immigration status

• Certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen.

The new law will target dishonest landlords who repeatedly fail to carry out Right to Rent checks by making this a criminal offence. This means they could face imprisonment for failing to check. More and more landlords are asking agents to manage their properties so they can stay on the right side of the law.

So what did our landlord do? After our chat, he asked us to find a tenant and manage the property for him. He had been reading the Bexley Property Blog for a while and could see that we know what we are talking about. Although he would have to pay us agency fees, I was able to get him an additional £105 per month for his property when we found him a tenant one week later. Now he can enjoy peace of mind, know that he is within the bounds of the law, and doesn’t have to deal with midnight phone calls to complain about dripping taps. It’s a win-win situation for everyone!

For more advice and info please call our office on: 01322 559955