Landlord Voice Magazine August 2015 - Hull | Page 4
Landlord News
Government
scraps Green
Deal funding
A
Photo: Protests in
Strasbourg France against
immigration
policy and border
management
New Bill will force landlords to
evict illegal migrant tenants
N
ew government
proposals to be
introduced in the
Immigration Bill when
parliament resumes in
September would mean
landlords are expected to evict
tenants who do not have the
right to rent in the UK.
The move, which has been
widely criticised as a knee-jerk
reaction to the Eurotunnel
migrant crisis, follows the
introduction of a pilot scheme
across the West Midlands in
December last year which
legally obligated landlords to
check the right of prospective
tenants to be in the country.
4 | LandlordVoice | July 2015
The Bill would
empower landlords
to evict tenants who
do not have the
right to rent without
the need for court
proceedings
If the Bill survives a
parliamentary vote it will
mean landlords are required
to check a migrant’s right to
rent before signing a tenancy
agreement.
Under the pilot scheme
introduced last year landlords
face a £3,000 fine for failing
to make the checks but the
Home Office insertion into the
Immigration Bill would mean
landlords who continually
failed to take the required
action could face up to five
years’ imprisonment.
The Home Office insertion
into the Bill would empower
landlords to evict tenants who
do not have the right to rent
without the need for court
proceedings.
Meanwhile, a definite timeframe for the national roll-out
of the pilot scheme right-torent checks remains to be
confirmed.
Photo: Typical UK house with regenerative energy system
Government decision to scrap
the Green Deal energy efficiency
programme due to poor take-up and
concerns over improvements providers’
standards has left landlords in limbo.
As part of the Government’s Tenant’s
Energy Efficiency Improvement
Regulations landlords were told this
year they would have to make sufficient
energy efficiency improvements to
bring rented properties up to at least an
E rating by 1st April 2018.
But, crucially, landlords could seek
funding to cover the cost of any relevant
energy efficiency improvements
through the Government’s Green Deal
funding.
Now the funding has been removed
many are left wondering how they will
cover the costs, which for many could