Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take in response to the High Court judgment that the Right to Rent scheme is discriminatory and incompatible with the right to freedom from discrimination enshrined in Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Government disagrees with the High Court’s findings and has been granted permission to appeal the judgment on all grounds.
In the meantime, the provisions passed by this House in 2014 remain in force. There are no immediate changes to the operation of the policy. Landlords and letting agents are still obliged to conduct Right to Rent checks as required in legislation.

The law is absolutely clear that landlords should not discriminate when carrying out right to rent checks in compliance with the 2014 Act.

We are looking at options for a further evaluation of the operation of the scheme. As part of this, we will look to develop further mechanisms to monitor the operation of the Scheme to provide ongoing assurance about its impact.

The Home Secretary has written to the independent adviser on lessons learned from Windrush, Wendy Williams, to draw her attention to the High Court’s findings.

The Right to Rent Consultative Panel will meet again next month to look at the operation of the Scheme and the guidance provided to landlords and lettings agents.