Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who were not granted entry clearance or temporary admission and were permitted to live in private accommodation absconded in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

The Home Office does not record the number of persons who have been deported or who have absconded having been permitted to live in private accommodation.

The Right to Rent scheme denies illegal migrants access to the private rented sector. It has been in operation in parts of the West Midlands since 1st December 2014, and across England since 1st February 2016. The scheme requires landlords to carry out checks on prospective tenants before they rent property to them, and to refuse a tenancy to anyone who cannot show that they have the right to rent. The scheme is not retrospective, and does not apply to tenancies which were in place before the scheme came into effect in the relevant area.

Therefore, in order to keep the scheme light touch and in line with the Right to Work scheme, landlords (like employers) are not required to tell the Home Office when they have completed right to rent checks.