Lodger having a visitor on a visa.

muhandis

I think you are mixing a lot of issues here.

1. Anyone who takes in a lodger should check that they have a right to rent before allowing them to move in, which it appears you haven't done.

2. You have freely permitted your lodger to have a guest over temporarily. You are free to let your lodger know that the guest can no longer stay over.

3. The temporary guest has no obligation to provide you with any personal information/documentation, let alone proof of his right to remain. You may ask and he may share it, but that's besides the point.

In your place, I would do my right-to-rent checks on the lodger pronto and take a photo/copy of his passport.

If the guest staying over becomes a permanent arrangement and your house becomes his main home, you will need to perform your right-to-rent check on him.

Gerontion wrote: »

I, unthinkingly, said "Yes fine, if they stay in your room and you are responsible for them". I've lived with this guy for over a year - there is friction as there always is but he's not too bad.

I know my lodger has the right to stay in the UK because I work at the same company as him (presuming our HR did their job of which I am confident). However the lodger's family member is not an EU citizen

How to handle this situation? How far am I responsible for ensuring I am not assisting in illegal immigration?

Gerontion

Comms69 wrote: »

The offence is failing to check.


So don't be too sure

Can you please cite your source for this? The offense is knowingly renting a room to someone who doesn't have the right to rent. If you conduct the proper checks and it turn out he defrauded you, that means you don't get prosecuted.

I read the legislation, in my situation as a live in landlord the maximum fine if it turns out he didn't have the right to rent would be £500 as a first offense.

In any case, I am now in possession of a photocopy of his ID in any case.

sevenhills

Gerontion wrote: »

Can you please cite your source for this? The offense is knowingly renting a room to someone who doesn't have the right to rent.

The High Court ruled that the government’s Right to Rent scheme, a key part of its “hostile environment” approach to illegal immigration, breaches human rights law.



https://www.citymetric.com/politics/high-court-has-ruled-using-landlords-immigration-officers-breaches-human-rights-law-4508

Honeylife

In your case I would have pulled him up the instant he started talking about find work for this relative. Its not too late to do so. As long as the guest leaves by day 7, it is nothing to do with you. Just do not allow him to go over a week under any circumstances. And you should ask for a contribution as the guest will be using the House facilities.

G_M

You nee a friendly but firm chat with your lodger about the guest. Putting aside the right to rent issue, establish exactly how long the guest plans to stay.

Visitors/tourists have fixed plans and usually a return flight booked - date?
Make clear how long you are prepared to let the guest stay. A week? 2? a month?

If there is no return flight booked, and/or job-hunting involved, then this is a different scenario and I would make that clear to your lodger and say "OK, he can stay for a week while he gets on his feet, but not a day longer."