Morning Briefing: government faces legal challenge over Right to Rent

In the news

The Guardian reports that the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) will launch a High Court case against the Home Office’s scheme, which obliges landlords to check the immigration status of prospective tenants.

The Residential Landlords Association has also backed the challenge, which the JCWI is seeking to crowdfund.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is continuing, with the national papers offering extensive coverage. The Guardian led with the lawyer for Behailu Kebede, in whose flat the fire started, defending his client.

The paper also ran a story on Kensington and Chelsea Council’s claim that the disaster could have happened in any borough.

The Evening Standard took a fresh angle, revealing that CEP Architectural Facades, which fabricated part of the tower’s cladding and windows, made a loss in 2017.

The New Statesman has published a piece by the novelist Will Self linking Thatcher’s housing policies to the deadly blaze.

Meanwhile, the Independent had a couple of stories on other housing matters, reporting exclusively that the Labour Party is seeking to change the law to reduce the amount that landlords are allowed to charge renters as a deposit.

It also followed the evidence of Persimmon’s executives to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, including a board member appearing to forget about the controversial £45m bonus paid to the company’s chief executive.