On 1st February, the Right to Rent scheme will be rolled out across the whole of England, but a legal expert has called for the launch to be delayed.
The national roll out of the controversial scheme is scheduled for exactly one week today. However, landlords or their letting agents can already start conducting immigration checks. Find out more: /landlords-and-agents-must-prepare-for-right-to-rent-says-home-office/
With Two Weeks to go, Legal Expert Calls for Right to Rent Delay
David Smith, the Policy Director at the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) and a partner at law firm Anthony Gold, believes the scheme is not ready for a national roll out.
His call arrives after the Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, tabled an early day motion.
The early day motion calls for the order for the nationwide launch of Right to Rent to be annulled. However, it has only attracted 38 signatures, predominantly from the Scottish National Party.
Smith supports the early day motion, as it is “an opportunity to provide more thorough, larger scale evaluation” of the scheme.
Right to Rent has been piloted in the West Midlands for just over a year, but Smith argues that it has produced little data, of which is contradictory.
He claims that the trial shows that Right to Rent is not achieving what the Government intends and is causing discrimination.
The Government’s review of the pilot scheme notes “limited evidence”1 that illegal immigrants’ access to the private rental sector was being controlled.
An earlier analysis, from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, shows that 44% of tenants in the pilot area had not been asked for identity documents.
On behalf of the RLA, Smith states: “To proceed at this stage runs the very real risk of causing considerable harm to the relationship between landlords and tenants, which are so crucial to the smooth operation of the private rented sector.”1
The early day motion can be viewed here: http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2015-16/934/