Another major industry body has added its voice to growing concerns over the potential impact of Right To Rent immigration checks on the private rental sector. 

The Immigration Bill going through Parliament this autumn will compel letting agents and private landlords to check the immigration status of tenants and to evict them if they lose their entitlement to remain living in the UK.

Now the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland has spoken out against the measure, in the light of the fact that Westminster politicians can extend the proposed measure to Scotland through secondary legislation.

In response to a question tabled in the Scottish Parliament by John Finnie, a member of the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish housing minister Margaret Burgess says: “I have written to the Minister for Immigration making clear my concerns and urging him to amend the Immigration Bill to require the UK Government to seek the consent of this Parliament before it extends the legislation to Scotland.”

The Chartered Institute of Housing has previously raised more general concerns that the Immigration Bill risks increasing discrimination and homelessness and will make it much more difficult for migrants who do have the right to live in the UK to access housing in the private rented sector.

“We have consistently voiced concerns about the potential negative impact of this legislation, particularly for documented migrants seeking to access housing in the private rented sector” says CIHS director Annie Mauger.

“We believe it conflicts with the Scottish Government’s objective to promote fairness and equality in Scottish housing policy and to increase security for the growing number of tenants in the private rented sector. The Scottish Parliament must be fully consulted before any moves to extend the proposed eviction measures to Scotland” she says.