Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of undocumented migrants who have (a) left the UK voluntarily, (b) been made homeless and (c) occupied unsuitable or dangerous accommodation as a result of their being unable to access the private rented sector due to the provisions of the right to rent scheme.

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.

Monitoring of the effects of the Right to Rent scheme on landlords and tenants is ongoing through the expert Landlords Consultative Panel, co-chaired by the Immigration Minister and Lord Best, an acknowledged expert in the fields of housing and planning. The Panel comprises bodies representing landlords, lettings agents, housing charities, local authorities and the Equality and Human Rights Commission amongst others. The Panel meets periodically, and communication channels outside these meetings allow for reporting by private rented sector and third sector groups of the experience of those they represent.