Right to Rent – Brexit Amendments

29th June 2017

The Right To Rent act is the act passed last year which gives letting agents and landlords the obligation to check that any prospective tenants have the right to live in the UK. Right to Rent has been in active since 1st February 2016 but may already need to be admeded due to Brexit.

In the Queen’s Speech at the end of June, one of the 8 Bill proposals was the Immigration Bill and pending the government securing majority in both the houses of Commons and Lords, this will have to be in place before the UK’s exit from the European Union in the Spring of 2019.

The Queen stated: “With the repeal of the European Communities Act, it will be necessary to establish new powers concerning the immigration status of European Economic Area (EEA) nationals. The Bill will allow the government to control the number of people coming here from Europe while still allowing us to attract the brightest and the best.” 

This bill will mean the following:
– Allowance for the repeal of EU law on immigration, primarily free movement, that will otherwise be saved and converted into UK law by the Repeal Bill;
– Making the migration of EU nationals and their family members subject to relevant UK law once the UK has left the EU.

The NLA is now warning that this Bill “could involve tweaks to the Right To Rent scheme” especially as the speech had no specific timetable for the Bill, although two years’ worth of legislation was spoken about. 

Although it is too early to say what will happen with Right To Rent, it is likely that there will slight alterations otherwise EU workers will choose elsewhere to live and work due to costly visas and difficult requirements.