Almost a fifth of landlords say they are now less likely to let to EU nationals or people from the European Economic Area, according to the Residential Landlords Association (RLA). 

This is due to confusion about how landlords will be expected to identify which EU citizens will and won’t be able to reside in the UK after Brexit and the subsequent impact this will have on mandatory Right to Rent checks.

A government document leaked this week gave details of immigration plans once the UK has left the EU but it contained no mention of Right to Rent or how landlords and agents will be expected to know who has a legitimate right to reside in the UK.

Under the Government’s Right to Rent scheme landlords are legally responsible for ensuring their tenants have a right to rent property in the UK.

In the scheme’s first year of operation, almost 100 landlords were hit with civil penalty fines for non-compliance.

“The government is leaving landlords and EU nationals in a state of legal limbo over their housing,” says David Smith, the RLA’s policy director.

“Ministers need to urgently set out the steps that will be taken to enable landlords to easily identify which EU nationals will and won’t have the right to rent.”

“Without this, and faced with the threat of prosecution for getting things wrong, landlords will only become even more cautious about renting to EU nationals,” he adds.

Earlier this week, a letting agency in London said it was expanding due to continued high demand from EU nationals.