“Who would want to move to Maidenhead in weather like
this?”, was what one landlord said to me as we shook hands outside his property
the other day. It was windy, cold, it had been raining most of the day and it
was the last appointment of the day at 4.45pm. I will admit, as I had been out
of the office all day, I was looking forward to getting home, putting the fire
on, and watching telly with a big mug of tea.
It turned out he had been self-managing the property himself
over the last few years, but was worried with all the new legislation that had been
introduced recently. He was particularly concerned about the up and coming
‘Right to Rent’ legislation, so he called us for our opinion on a new tenancy
after his current tenant had handed in their notice recently.
For those Maidenhead landlords that don’t know, landlords
will need to check the immigration status (i.e. the right to reside in the UK) of any
new tenants moving into properties from February 2016 or face a £3,000 fine. It
is called the 'Right to Rent' rules. Landlords should also be aware that as
well as traditional tenants, this also applies to tenants who sub-let rooms and
homeowners who take in lodgers.
Our landlord from Cookham wanted to know how much of a real
issue was ‘Right to Rent’ in Maidenhead. I was able to tell him that the last
available figures (from a couple of years ago) show that 222 people (whom were
registered as Non-UK Born Short-term Residents) moved into private rented
accommodation in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council area in
one year alone. Assuming none of those 222 people had the right to live in the
UK, this would equate to a fine of a whopping £666,000 to the landlords of the town.
It doesn’t sound a lot when you think there are 63,580
residents in Maidenhead, and of those, 51,808 people (or 81.48%) were born in
the UK. But Maidenhead is a cosmopolitan town as the country of birth of the
residents in Maidenhead can be split down as follows:
UK 81.48%
Ireland 1.08%
Europe 5.75%
Africa 2.79%
Middle East and Asia 6.95%
Americas and Caribbean 1.32%
Australia and Pacific region 0.58%
However, it must also be recognised that landlords, by checking
up on tenants, could potentially be accused of discrimination under the
Equality Act. This is a real minefield for landlords, especially when you
consider that not all of the 3,655 Europeans in the area necessarily have the
right to live in the UK either.
In a nutshell, Maidenhead 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
Travel document or Permanent Residence Card showing
indefinite leave to remain
Paperwork from Home Office stating their Immigration status
Certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British
citizen.
I hope the new law will target dishonest landlords who
repeatedly fail to carry out Right to Rent checks by making it a criminal
offence. This means they could face imprisonment for failing to check on their
tenants. 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 our landlord do?
Well after our chat, he asked us to find a tenant and manage
the property for him - he had been reading the Maidenhead Property Blog for a
while and because of the knowledge we impart to the landlords of Maidenhead, we
obviously know what we are talking about.
Even better news for him, even though this would cost him agency fees, I
was able to get him an additional £85 per month for his property when we found
him a tenant one week later. Now, together with the peace of mind that we will
keep him the right side of the law and putting a stop to midnight phone calls complaining
about dripping taps, it was a win-win situation for everyone.
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