It seems like only yesterday that the Queens Speech outlined the Government’s intention to crack down on illegal immigrants and make the ‘Right to Rent’ legislation, which it had trialled in the West Midlands, statutory across the whole of England. Yet, here we are in February 2016 and ‘Right to Rent’ is a reality (since February 1) that all landlords now need to be aware of.

Whilst some commentators will claim that this won’t change the habits of unscrupulous landlords, the team at Andrews believes in advising its customers to act within the law and its unlikely that many landlords will want to be faced with potential fines of £3,000 or even a prison sentence. However, some confusion still remains around exactly what a landlord needs to do in order to be compliant.

At its most simple, the ‘Right to Rent’ legislation makes it the responsibility of a landlord to check the eligibility of a prospective tenant to reside in England and whilst this sounds potentially onerous, by following some simple steps you should find that before long you’re doing it as a matter of course:  You’ll need to get ‘satisfactory evidence’ of entitlement to live in the UK from all prospective tenants and other adults who would be living with them  You’ll need to take copies of the relevant documentation and keep it for at least 12 months after the person’s tenancy has ended – this is a legal requirement so don’t think you can cut corners here  If a tenant has limited leave to live in the UK, you should repeat these checks (probably every year) to make sure they’re still allowed to stay here  Make sure you see the original copies of all necessary documents – it simply won’t be sufficient to see a copy of a passport or any visa documentation  You’ll need to be happy that the documentation is genuine – the Home Office has a phone line available to answer questions about this - 0300 069 9799  To make sure you don’t discriminate or make assumptions about people’s migration status, you’ll need to do these checks on all prospective tenants, including British citizens and those with the permanent right to live in the UK  Of course, if at this stage you suspect that the applicant doesn’t have the right to remain in the UK or that the documents that they’ve supplied might have been forged, you’ll need to report them to the Home Office as soon as possible By engaging with a reputable letting agent such as Andrews, you can be assured of receiving the support and guidance necessary to make ‘Right to Rent’ a straight forward aspect of life as a landlord.

So if you’re in any doubt as to whether you’re doing all you need to in order to be ‘Right to Rent’ compliant, don’t delay and pop in today to chat with a member of the team at Andrews – they have a branch in Kingsbury – or visit their new website at www.andrewsonline.co.uk