Undocumented Migrants: Private Rented Housing

(asked on 12th December 2016) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times enforcement action has been instigated against an undocumented migrant as a result of information provided through the right to rent online checking tool.


Answered by
Robert Goodwill Portrait
Robert Goodwill
This question was answered on 31st January 2017

As with right to work checks, the Right to Rent scheme is predicated on checks being carried out by third parties (in this case landlords and lettings agents). This means that the majority of illegal migrant prospective tenants will be denied access to the private rented sector as a result of these checks with no intervention by enforcement officers or reference to the Home Office. The sanctions set out in the Immigration Acts 2014 and 2016 in relation to the Right to Rent scheme are there to address circumstances where the scheme is not adhered to by landlords and agents.

The Home Office will always investigate information it receives about illegal migrants and take appropriate enforcement action according to the information available and the circumstances of the case. It is not always possible to attribute a return or other enforcement activity to the application of a sanction earlier in the case or to the route through which a particular individual was brought to the attention of the Home Office.

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