Landlords to be responsible for vetting migrant tenants

N1AK

Graham_Devon wrote: »

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?

Partly because it winds people like ILW up and partly because a lot of the people and many of the views expressed against immigration are xenophobic.

I'm not going to suggest that everyone who isn't rabidly for immigration is xenophobic because that patently isn't true.

Health tourism is something I'm reasonably sceptical about the scale of given the disappointing lack of research and decent investigative journalism; however I have nothing at all against making it harder, as long as it actually saves money and isn't just a PR measure.

What should be noted though is that most examples of health tourism that are reported have nothing to do with immigration and are often people who are comparatively well off (some mother in Afghanistan is hardly going to fly over to the UK to get better care during pregnancy).

There are plenty of areas that I would be happy to see reform, and plenty of things on which a rational debate about these issues could be based. The issue is that the vast majority of people arguing against immigration don't have reasoned arguments and nuanced views.

mcfisco

MacMickster wrote: »

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 don't believe the Border Agency actively try and track down overstayers. They catch a few in raids etc. but I don't think they actually target anyone for being an overstayer they simply wait until they pop up on a radar somewhere

PasturesNew

That'd be a laugh.

Anyway, it'll just end up with a bunch of people using their documentation to front an illegal immigrants' subletting scam.

mcfisco

PasturesNew wrote: »

That'd be a laugh.

Anyway, it'll just end up with a bunch of people using their documentation to front an illegal immigrants' subletting scam.

Probably, maybe this thread needs moving to the 'Up Your Income' board?

ILW

Give tracking down illegals and benefits fraudsters to private companies, paid purely on results and the problem would be virtually sorted in a year or so.

N1AK

Gizmo247 wrote: »

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.

It might not be that difficult even without robust identification. Health tourism is normally reported in two forms:
1/ Someone allows a friend to use their identity for treatment.
2/ Someone comes to the UK and receives 'urgent' treatment which can't be refused with no intention of paying.

For the first example a few steps could be taken. Firstly it is already 'fraud' to pretend to be someone else to receive medical treatment and it is a crime to assist someone in committing fraud. Some checks on patient details and investigation where there are anomalies and/or random checks with cases against both fraud and accomplice pursued vigorously through the court would discourage this.

The second is more complex. If a US woman gets into the UK two weeks before her due date then is admitted with a complication do we simply not treat them? In some cases, treatment for cancer for example if treated as urgent, but probably isn't so urgent that it couldn't wait for 12 hours while they are flown back home.

What is notable in both these types of 'health tourism' is they are both generally achieved by being a tourist; there is no need to become an immigrant if all you're trying to do is get treated.

Mr._Pricklepants

ILW wrote: »

Give tracking down illegals and benefits fraudsters to private companies, paid purely on results and the problem would be virtually sorted in a year or so.

Yeah!

ILW

Mr._Pricklepants wrote: »

Yeah!

Was thinking more along the lines of the debt collecting companies. They do quite well at getting money out of people that do not have any.

IveSeenTheLight

Mr._Pricklepants wrote: »

All for cracking down on illegal immigration, but this should not be a task for landlords.

We could start fining butchers for selling cumberland sausages to illegals also?

Once, I have an applicant of Iranian origin who viewed my 2 bed flat with two "cousins"

The Iranian was apparently in town for a years training and asked if we could put more beds into the bedroom and living room as he wanted his family to join him.

Thing was the guy couldn't speak English so I did wonder how well his "training" would be received.

Potentially I guess he may have been an illegal immigrant and I chose another candidate to progress with credit checks for.

However in another instance, my grandfather was taken to court because three female "students" from the country were plying their trade and he was charged with living off immoral earnings.

He was able to prove that he let to them as students with guarantors and was in no way aware of their "in-house" activities.

Just goes to show you need to be concerned with all tenant applicants and do a background check to protect yourself as a landlord.

Thrugelmir

Sampong wrote: »

Obviously somebody in authority considers there to be an issue.....

Surely LL's have an interest in vetting their prospective tenants in any event. Irrespective of their migration status. Just another tightening of the screw.