The new immigration rules were announced at the opening of parliament and will now ‘require private landlords to check the immigration status of their tenants’.
Under the laws landlords can potentially be fined thousands of pounds for housing illegal immigrants, something the industry has immediately criticised.
Stephen Thornton, director at RICS, warned the government that the government risked swamping landlords with increased red tape and branded the proposals ‘unacceptable’.
“The government’s proposals to introduce a duty on all landlords to ensure that their tenants are in the UK legally will impose more red tape on all landlords, particularly the growing number of ‘amateur’ buy-to-let landlords,” he said.
“Government must also make sure that the proposals do not increase costs to renters which they can often ill afford. Amateur landlords operate without proper training or guidance, putting themselves and their tenants at risk.”
No further details on the policy were announced in the speech, prompting confusion over whether landlords, management companies or letting agents would face legal repercussions if an illegal immigrant is found to be living in a property.
Earlier health secretary Jeremy Hunt came under fire on Radio 4’s Today programme over the lack of clarity surrounding the new policy.
When asked by John Humphrys how a private landlord could be expected to police immigration laws the minister replied: “We will be announcing the details of how we sort out that particular problem in due course.”
Labour had called for new regulation on slum landlords and unfair letting agents ahead of the Queen’s Speech but the government did not propose any changes in this area.
“The government has stubbornly refused to look at introducing better laws to protect both landlords and tenants – it is unacceptable that it now expects the property industry to deliver its immigration policy,” added RICS’ Thornton.
