The government has issued a new guide to ensure landlords do not discriminate while enforcing the Right To Rent regulations. 

It applies only to residential tenancy agreements commencing on or after April 6 this year, and also where a repeat check on an existing tenant is required to be carried out on or after April 6.

The document says it provides practical guidance for landlords on what they should or should not do to avoid unlawful discrimination when complying with their obligations under the Immigration Act 2014 and under the Equality Act 2010.

The code applies both to landlords and to agents acting for landlords.

Although unlawful discrimination may occur in several different ways, the focus of the guide is on avoiding race discrimination.

A key element of the guide says landlords should not:

– discriminate when conducting right to rent checks;

– simply check the status of those who the landlord thinks appear or are likely to be migrants;

– treat those with a time-limited right to rent more or less favourably;

– treat those who have access to the Home Office online checking service more or less favourably;

– treat those who provide a manual documentation as listed in the list of acceptable documents more or less favourably;

– make assumptions about a person’s right to rent, or their immigration status on the basis of their colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, accent or length of time they have been resident in the UK.

You can see the full guide here.