The government is being urged to scrap a “discriminatory” policy that Generation Rent claims is making it harder for migrants and refugees to rent in England.
Called the ‘Right to Rent Policy’, and contained under the Immigration Acts of 2014 and 2016, this legally requires landlords in England to check a tenant’s immigration status.
Generation Rent has published a report into the policy which it argues has a harmful impact on private renters, especially those born abroad who do have the right to rent and those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
According to the government’s own data, a quarter of landlords would be unwilling, on principle, to rent to non-British passport holders even if they did have the right to rent in the UK.
In creating its report, Generation Rent found that two in five migrant private renters had struggled to find a landlord willing to rent to them.
The tenancy advocacy group also presents evidence that many landlords (56%) who felt unable to rent to non-British passport holders cited the risk of civil penalties when being caught out by the Right to Rent policy as a reason.
Additionally, 47% said they found these checks too difficult or time consuming to execute.
Evidence also shows that black and minority ethnic groups and minority people take twice as long to find a home to rent as white British people.
These issues have since been compounded by the case of Ukrainian refugees. In 2023, Generation Rent found that 67.6% of Ukrainian refugees struggled to find a landlord willing to rent to a migrant or refugee.
As such, Generation Rent is calling for the Renters’ Reform Bill - currently working its way through parliament - to end the right to rent policy.
Generation Rent added: “This discriminatory policy restricts the number of safe and secure homes available to migrant peoples and minority ethnic communities and forces many to choose between enduring poor quality and even dangerous living conditions and homelessness.”
