Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that letting agents are able to verify the immigration status of tenants who are subletters.

The system of right to rent checks which we introduced through the Immigration Act 2014 enables a landlord to delegate the responsibility for conducting a check on a tenant’s status to a lettings agent, together with any associated liability for a penalty. Where a tenant sublets the accommodation to another person, the legislation provides that the tenant is responsible for conducting a right to rent check, and liable for any penalty for not doing so, unless it has been agreed by both parties that the check will be performed by the landlord or an agent. Full guidance for lettings agents on how to carry out checks is available online (www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-rent-landlords-code-of-practice), and through a free telephone helpline.

The first phase of the scheme is in operation in Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton and is currently being evaluated before it is extended to the rest of the country.