Today, her majesty confirmed the opening of a new Parliament with the annual Queen’s Speech. One of the main announcements was that the Immigration Bill is to be rolled out across the country, after a trial in the West Midlands during last year.
Responding to the announcement, a property professional has raised concerns over the workability of the scheme for thousands of landlords.
Steve Bolton, Founder and Chairman of Platinum Property Partners, also believes that more is to be done to improve standards in the private rented sector.
A step forwards
Mr Bolton commented that, ‘so far only landlords in the West Midlands have been required to check the immigration status of new tenants: however the Queen’s Speech stated that this will now be rolled out nationally. Any landlords who fail to carry out these checks could incur a fine of up to £3,000, so it is vital that the buy-to-let investor community is aware of these changes as soon as they are implemented.’[1]
He went on to say, ‘although the checks will involve slightly more admin, they won’t cause a headache for the majority of landlords and will ultimately help to protect their business as well as encourage professionalism in the sector. Only landlords who fail to carry out thorough referencing checks will be troubled by these changes.‘[2]
Bolton also said that, ‘noticeably absent from the Queen’s Speech was any mention of a mandatory licensing scheme for landlords.’ He is of the opinion that, ‘widespread licensing would do even more to raise standards and uncover rogue landlords: but the fees attached to this could impact some landlords financially.’ Finally, he said, ‘any additional legislation must regulate the few bad landlords rather than penalize the majority who provide a good, quality and much-needed service.’[3]
[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/landlords/immigration-checks-will-protect-landlords-but-mandatory-licencsing-still-needed.html