Under new legislation expected to be rolled out across the UK in 2015, private rental landlords or their appointed agents now have an obligation to check whether prospective tenants are in the country legally.
Changes to the Immigration Act, which are currently being trialled in areas of the West Midlands including Birmingham, Walsall and Wolverhampton, mean landlords or their appointed agents are now legally obliged to ask for evidence of a person's identity and legal citizenship.
In cases where a passport cannot be produced, letting agents and landlords can request further checks via a government website.
The legislation also acts as a deterrent to unscrupulous landlords who maintain overcrowded and unsafe accommodation.
In response to the Immigration Act 2014, which will come into force nationwide in 2015 after an assessment of the first phase in the spring, OnBoard Pro's new software has a 'Right to Rent' tool which enables landlords to carry out all necessary checks in one simple, easy to use system.
Stephen Purvis, CEO of Onboard Pro, said: "In our opinion this new legislation will place an overbearing burden on letting agents and landlords. It's difficult to implement and is administratively challenging and because of the lack of knowledge of document types and what's genuine or forged, we believe it could prove a significant business risk.
"Our software has been developed to offer a fully integrated Right to Rent verification service for the UK roll out which will enable checks to be carried out in a simple process which requires minimal training.
"All documents provided by the individual will be scanned, verified and stored and are then read and verified against 142 data sources across 96 countries to be validated. The whole process takes less than five minutes and is free to OnBoard Pro users."
Under the Immigration Act 2014, landlords or their appointed letting agent must see original documents that satisfy the Home Office requirements from a list of 2 document groups. They must inspect the documents to ensure that they are genuine and have not been tampered with, many of these document types will have never been seen by most. They must also retain a record of the date on which the check was made, and keep copies somewhere safe for 12 months after the tenancy agreement comes to an end.
Stephen Purvis added: "These changes in legislation will have a massive impact on the rental property market. While they do put greater emphasis on letting agents and landlords to make sure their prospective tenants are a legal UK citizen, it also protects tenants from finding themselves residing in properties which are overcrowded and even unsafe.
"By using the OnBoard Pro solution, the checks which must be carried out can be completed in one simple, speedy process and will remove a lot of the issues letting agents and landlords would otherwise potentially face."
For more information on OnBoard Pro visit https://www.onboardpro.co.uk/right-to-rent-uk, call 0191 5802361 or email info@oboardpro.co.uk.
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