Solihull Landlords could be fined £477,000 per year

“Who would want to move to Solihull in weather like this?” a landlord said to me as we shook hands outside his property the other day. It was windy, cold and had been raining most of the day, it was a late appointment at 6.30 pm. I will admit, as I had been out of the office all day, I was looking forward to getting home at a reasonable time, putting the fire on and watching telly, but as this landlord works in Birmingham this was the earliest he could do. 

It turned out he had been self-managing the property over the last few years, but was worried that he was not able to keep up with all the new legislation that had been introduced recently. He was particularly concerned about the ‘Right to Rent’ legislation.  As his tenant had handed in their notice recently, on this new tenancy he called us for our opinion he decided to call the experts and ask us our advice on marketing for a new tenant.

For those Solihull landlords that don’t know, landlords will need to check the immigration status of any new tenants moving into properties from February 2016 or face a £3,000 fine. It is called the 'Right to Rent' rules. However, tenants should also be aware that as well as traditional landlords, tenants who sublet rooms and homeowners who take in lodgers, must also check the right of prospective tenants to reside in the UK, this is in line with the more stringent rules brought in with the new immigration Act 2014.

This landlord wanted to know how much of a real issue ‘Right to Rent’ in Solihull was. I was able to tell him, the last available figures (from a couple of years ago) show that 159 people (whom were registered as non-UK born short-term residents) moved into private rented accommodation in the Solihull Borough Council area in one year alone. If all of those people weren’t supposed to be in the UK, that would be a fine of £477,000 to the landlords of the town.

It doesn’t sound a lot when you think there are 123,187 residents in Solihull borough area, and of those, 112,291 people (or 91.15%) were born in the UK.  However, Solihull is a cosmopolitan town and the country of birth of the residents in the borough area can be split down as follows:

·         UK                                                                          91.15%

·         Ireland                                                                    1.36%

·         Europe                                                                    1.44%

·         Africa                                                                     1.41%

·         Middle East and Asia                                             3.89%

·         Americas and Caribbean                                        0.57%

·         Australia and Pacific region                                   0.16% 

It has to be acknowledged that landlords can also run the risk of being accused of discrimination under the 2010 Equality Act if they are not careful. This is a real minefield for landlords, especially when you consider that not all of the 1,774 Europeans in the area necessarily have the right to live in the UK either.

In a nutshell, Solihull landlords will need to check and retain copies of certain documents that show a potential tenant has the right to live in the UK. These include....

·         UK Passport

·         EEA Passport/Identity card

·         Visa

·         Travel document or Permanent Residence Card showing indefinite leave to remain

·         Biometric ‘residence permit’ issued by the Home Office

·         Paperwork from Home Office stating their Immigration status

·         Certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen.

Let’s hope this will prevent dishonest landlords who repeatedly fail to carry out ‘Right to Rent’ checks. As failing to comply will be a criminal offence and could mean facing imprisonment. That is why more and more landlords are asking agents to manage their properties, so they can stay the right side of the law.

So what did this landlord do?

Well after our chat, he asked us to find a tenant and manage the property for him - he had been reading the Solihull property blog for a while and because of the knowledge we impart to the landlords of Solihull, if realised that we obviously know what we are talking about.  Even better news for him, I was able to get him an additional £50 per month for his property within a week. Now, he has peace of mind, we will keep him the right side of the law and put a stop to midnight phone calls complaining about dripping taps, it was a win-win situation for everyone.