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Government report finds Right to Rent discrimination

Private landlords have instructed letting agents not to let to “any foreigners” as a result of the Right to Rent checks, a government report has found.

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The finding was included in a Home Office evaluation into the government’s scheme to force landlords to check the migration status of their tenants or face a fine of up to £3,000 per tenant.

Ministers today also said the scheme, which has been piloted in the West Midlands since December 2014, will be rolled out across the country from February 2016.

The Home Office report said: “[Letting agents] reported that they had landlords who had instructed them not to let to non-European Economic Area (EEA) applicants or to ‘any foreigners’.”

The research looked at an online survey of 114 West Midlands landlords, a survey of 68 tenants and 10 focus groups of tenants, landlords and letting agents.

It found “a small number of statements… that could potentially result in discrimination within the housing sector”.

“One example of this was a letting agent who, in a focus group, expressed the view that ‘if the applicants were white and had a ‘Brummie’ accent, they didn’t need to put them through the [Right to Rent] process,” the report added.

It said the instances of discrimination found by the survey were “a very small number”, but admitted that this may be a reflection of the fact that 60 out of 67 of the tenant responses were from students. Most foreign students have all the required documents to hand.

Social landlords are subject to the scheme, but tenancies from housing waiting lists are exempt because local authorities are expected to have already carried out immigration checks.

James Brokenshire, immigration minister, said: “Right to Rent checks are quick and simple, and many responsible landlords already do them as a matter of routine. We are providing landlords in England with all the advice and support they need before the checks go live on 1 February 2016.”

Matt Downie, director of policy and external affairs at Crisis, said the Home Office report contained “alarming findings”.


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