Partner Article

Right To Rent Proves 'Source Of Confusion' For City Landlords

In light of the Right to Rent changes set to come into force on 1 February, a Lenton based property consultancy is warning landlords to make themselves aware of the new legal requirements in order to avoid fines of up to £3,000.

MS Estates, based on Lenton Boulevard, has been advising city landlords about the new Governmental changes being imposed on all landlords in England and Wales, who will now be obligated to check that their tenants have the right to live in the UK before renting out property to them.

Satty Sahota, Partner at MS Estates, said: “There are three golden rules that landlords need to follow in order to avoid charges. Landlords must obtain original documents, check the validity in the presence of the document holder, and make and retain copies, in addition to record the date that the checks were made.”

Landlords who fail to follow these new legal requirements will be issued with a hefty fine of up to £3,000 per tenant.

Satty added: “Landlords are not expected to be experts in any or all of the various passports and identity documents. If you are given forged documents as a landlord, you will only be liable for a civil penalty if it is reasonably apparent that it is false.

“You must keep copies of the documents that you have checked, for the duration of the tenancy and for 12 months after.”

The national introduction of Right to Rent is part of the Government’s wider reforms to the Immigration Act in order to clamp down on people living in the UK illegally.

If landlords are unsure about what to do in order to stay legally compliant with the new regulations they should speak to a reputable property consultant.

For more information please visit: http://www.ms-estates.co.uk/

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Poppy-PR .