Right To Rent: 91 landlords receive civil penalties in year one

An immigration minister has revealed that 91 landlords have been issued with civil penalties since the Right to Rent scheme was implemented on February 1 2016. 

Robert Goodwill MP says landlords have been fined a total of almost £30,000, with 667 enquiries made to the Home Office’s checking services. 

“Home Office records show that in response to landlords making enquiries through the Landlords Checking Service, the Home Office has issued 503 responses during phase 1 of the scheme and 5,446 during phase 2. Of these, 62 responses during phase 1 and 605 responses during phase 2 were in respect of those without the Right to Rent”, Goodwill told Stuart McDonald MP in a parliamentary written answer at the end of last week.

“Phase 1 of the Right To Rent scheme ran in the West Midlands from 1 December 2014 to 31 January 2016. Phase 2 of the scheme started across England from 1 February 2016.

"During phase 1 of the scheme, 15 landlords were issued with a civil penalty. Since the start of phase 2 of the scheme, 91 landlords have been issued with a civil penalty. All were first time penalties. 55 related to lodgers in a private household and 51 related to occupiers in rented accommodation” Goodwill’s response continued. 

“There have been no appeals under the scheme. The total amount collected from the scheme up to 13 December 2016 is £29,575.31.”

Meanwhile the Residential Landlords Association is conducting a new survey into landlords’ experiences of the legislation. 

Last week we reported that the Chartered Institute of Housing said the current legislation was not yet fit to be rolled out to the rest of the UK, as the government intends.