Two legal challenges being mounted against Right To Rent policy

It’s been revealed this morning that there are two legal challenges being mounted against the Right To Rent policy, which obliges agents and landlords to check the legal right of tenants to be in the UK.

The politics.co.uk political news website says the first case involves a woman facing eviction after her landlord was notified by the Home Office that she did not have permission to be in the UK.

The site says the woman entered the country as a student but the Home Office lost her passport when she applied to extend her visa; she is currently making an application to stay in the UK as a stateless person but until that is resolved she appears not to be formally entitled to rent a private property.

The second case is being brought by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, which has long argued that Right To Rent has proven discriminatory. 

The Home Office has told the Politics website it would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal procedures.

Last month the Residential Landlords’ Association claimed that its research showed some 42 per cent of landlords as being less likely to consider renting to someone without a British passport as a result of the Right To Rent legislation.

It called for a temporary halt to the policy because it is concerned especially at the impact it is having on the 17 per cent of UK residents who do not have a passport.

The research carried out by the RLA’s Private renting Evidence, Analysis and Research Lab - PEARL - found that 49 per cent of landlords are now less likely to consider letting to someone who has permission to stay in the UK for a limited time-period. 

With the foreign-born population almost three times as likely to be in the private rental sector compared to UK-born nationals, this is creating difficulties for them in finding accommodation, the association says.

You can see the full Politics.co.uk story here.