Landlords to be responsible for vetting migrant tenants

olly300

N1AK wrote: »

There's nothing wrong with passing the buck, especially if it means the job gets done and we don't have to pay for it. Contracts are already required so put in place a £1,000 fine for any contract agreed with an illegal immigrant. Doesn't matter if the agents are regulated or not.

Contracts in England and Wales can be verbal.

You can't prove what's in a verbal contract and if I was an illegal immigrant I would definitely not want a piece of paper with my name, real or fake on it.

Jim_B_3

Wait, so is it (or will it be) actually illegal to rent out a house to an illegal immigrant? That seems utterly ridiculous. As people above said, how is this different to selling food to an illegal immigrant? Is that going to become illegal? How about if the person renting a big house is legal, and they allow illegals to live there? Is that on the landlord too?

Are landlords just seen as an easy target for the government to offload their responsibilities to? This is more utterly stupid micro-management from a government that seems horrifically unsuited to actual government. Like the bedroom tax, just another episode in an endless torrent of ideas so small and petty; shouldn't the government be doing big concepts and big governing?

Graham_Devon

N1AK wrote: »

A lot of what the government is doing on immigration is pretty pointless but then it has to be seen to be doing something to try and pacify xenophobes

Why bring yourself down to this level?

There are a lot of problems with immigration and free movement. Only in the Queens Speach today do they talk of the millions of pounds we lose under NHS tourism.

Are you going to suggest everyone looking into this is also an xenophobe?

You cannot simply write off all problems with the same tired insults.

Graham_Devon

Jim_B wrote: »

Wait, so is it (or will it be) actually illegal to rent out a house to an illegal immigrant? That seems utterly ridiculous. As people above said, how is this different to selling food to an illegal immigrant? Is that going to become illegal? How about if the person renting a big house is legal, and they allow illegals to live there? Is that on the landlord too?

Are landlords just seen as an easy target for the government to offload their responsibilities to? This is more utterly stupid micro-management from a government that seems horrifically unsuited to actual government. Like the bedroom tax, just another episode in an endless torrent of ideas so small and petty; shouldn't the government be doing big concepts and big governing?

It's ridiculous.

I don't think landlords are seen as an easy target, a lot has been done for landlords afterall!

However, to say the landlord should be fined for housing an illegal immigrant and that the landlords should make the checks is absurd.

If they are illegal, they shouldn't be here. If the borders agency and government have failed to run proper checks and sort the situation out, how do they expect landlords too?

Is the landlord protected against all equal opportunities and human rights legislation too? It's the same in the NHS. They want GPs to stop giving access to those who don't qulify for the NHS, but at the same time apply equal opportunities legislation to them making it nigh on impossible to vet the registration without falling foul of the equal opportunities and racial equality stuff.

They shouldn't be here if they are illegal immigrants. If they are here because the government won't stop it, they should sort something out. It shouldn't be the landlord paying the price. Neither should anyone be seen as a racist or xenophobe for having the audacity of identifying and trying to correct a problem.

wotsthat

I don't see the big deal. Obviously in an ideal world the border agencies would be doing a better job but otherwise they'll need to be checked in-country and there are some good times to check i.e. seeking housing, employment or healthcare.

ILW

N1AK wrote: »

A lot of what the government is doing on immigration is pretty pointless but then it has to be seen to be doing something to try and pacify xenophobes

Why is it that as soon as someone seems to express an aopinion that does not support totally uncontrolled immigration, some !!!!!!!! has to accuse them of being racist, xenophobic, or similar?

ILW

I believe harbouring or sheltering a criminal is already an offence.

MacMickster

This makes perfect sense to me. Many businesses (and landlords are running a business, although some of them are not very businesslike) are required to vet their customers. Banks need to verify the identity of their customers to prevent money laundering. Bookies, pubs, the corner shop etc can all be fined if they provide restricted services to underage customers. Employers can be fined if they employ anyone who is not entitled to work in the UK.

I would expect all landlords to carry out identity and credit checks on their customers already, before handing over the keys to an expensive property - yet illegal immigrants continue to find places to stay. Either some landlords are not very diligent about getting to know their customer, or are complicit in aiding and abetting illegal immigrants (as long as they are receiving cash in hand rents).

Regulation of this kind should have been brought in years ago.

MacMickster

Graham_Devon wrote: »

It's ridiculous.

They shouldn't be here if they are illegal immigrants. If they are here because the government won't stop it, they should sort something out. It shouldn't be the landlord paying the price. Neither should anyone be seen as a racist or xenophobe for having the audacity of identifying and trying to correct a problem.

If someone arrives in the UK on a tourist or student visa and fails to leave the country when they should, if they are still resident at the accommodation address that they gave when applying for their visa I would imagine that they are fairly easy for the Border Agency to remove.

I suspect that most anticipate this action, however, and move elsewhere so that they are not easily found. This proposal should make it harder for them to move elsewhere.

Gizmo247

I don't see how this can work without a workable identify system. The government needs to bite the bullet and revive the identity card project and get it done.