European Union citizens living in the UK run the risk of losing their rental homes without swift confirmation of their status post-Brexit, a landlord group has claimed.
Under the 2014 Immigration Act all EU nationals automatically have the right to rent property in the UK.
This will continue to be the case unless the law is changed, whether citizens are currently in the UK or come after the UK leaves the EU.
But as fears of a no-deal Brexit mount, the Residential Landlords Associatio warns that urgent clarity is needed over EU nationals’ ongoing right to rent.
The RLA argues that without this advice, landlords will not know if they should renew tenancy agreements that are about to expire or if they should agree new ones for EU nationals.
According to RLA analysis of official data, 66 per cent of EU nationals (excluding those from the Republic of Ireland) live in private rented housing.
The landlord group is calling on the Government to issue guidance as a matter of urgency on the rights that EU nationals will have to rent property both before and after the UK leaves the EU, including under a no deal Brexit.
The RLA wants ministers to confirm that they will give such tenants at least 18 months’ notice of any changes to these rights in order to give both renters and landlords time to prepare.
Under current policy, landlords face the threat of criminal sanctions where the have “reasonable cause to believe” that the property they are letting is occupied by someone who does not have the right to rent in the UK.
The RLA warns that without urgent action there is a danger of a new scandal echoing that faced by the Windrush generation.
It suggests that in a worst-case scenario EU nationals could be made homeless if they are unable to prove their right to rent.
RLA policy director David Smith says: “Landlords and tenants need urgent clarification from the Government on the rights that EU nationals will have to rent property immediately after the UK leaves the EU, especially in the event of a no deal Brexit.
“Without this, and without a commitment that no changes will be made to the ability of EU citizens to rent property without at least 18 months’ notice, landlords will find themselves unable to decide if tenancies should be renewed and new ones created for EU citizens.
“We need clarity as swiftly as possible.”
The RLA is today writing to the Brexit Secretary, Dominic Raab MP, to raise its concerns over the issue.
Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants chief executive Satbir Singh says: “The Government’s refusal to give EU citizens who apply for settled status a document proving their right to live in the UK after Brexit is incomprehensible.
“Particularly in light of the hostile environment that requires landlords to check their tenants immigration status.
“JCWI’s research demonstrates that landlords will not go through complex immigration checks, online forms, or telephone helplines to check up on someone’s status, when they could just rent to someone with a British passport instead.
“Landlords cannot be expected to act as border guards, and to ask them to do so is to play with the lives and livelihoods of immigrants and ethnic minorities. It must stop.”
