Landlords charging renters extra fees for new mandatory passport checks

The Government mandated the Right To Rent checks nationally earlier this year

Onward said the proportion of income that renters spend on housing has more than doubled in recent years (PA)

Landlords are using new Government-mandated passport checks on tenants as an excuse to charge them extra fees, it has emerged.

Earlier this year the Government mandated so-called “Right To Rent” checks on anybody renting a home in order to screen for undocumented migrants.

Research by the charity Shelter identified letting agents and landlords billing renters as much as £40 – while a Government study suggested the figure could be as high as £120.

The Government’s impact assessment of the policy estimated that the checks take around five minutes to complete.

The fees come on top of earlier research showing that nearly half of landlords said the new checks would make them less likely to people who appear to be immigrants.

In the Autumn Statement last month the Chancellor Philip Hammond said he would ban letting agents’ fees. The policy would likely stop passport check fees levied by letting agents but would be unlikely to affect landlords charging them directly. The policy is currently being consulted on.

“The cost of the government’s Right to Rent policy is now being passed on to all tenants. By law, landlords must check every tenant has the Right to Rent, even if they have a British passport and have never lived abroad,” Shelter wrote.

“We know that many tenants struggle to afford the upfront costs of renting, which can involve administration fees, credit check fees and rent in advance.

“Adding to these upfront costs by charging even more for Right to Rent checks will present a further barrier to struggling renters looking for a home to settle down in.”

A Government review of the policy’s pilot phase last year surveyed landlords who said they were charging fees of between £10 and £120 for the passport checks.

The review however noted that the higher figure may not be representative because “it is possible that letting agents may have interpreted the question in different ways, for example citing costs for all tenant referencing rather than specific Right to Rent checks”.

Shelter’s research, by contrast, identified specific letting agencies and landlords charging the fees.