Landlords refusing to rent to non-white British tenants due to government's hostile environment, court told

'Where they do not have a passport you then resort to proxies - do they appear British? - ie skin colour, name, accent, and so forth'

Landlords are refusing to rent to non-white British tenants due to the government’s hostile environment policy, a court has heard.

The “Right to Rent” scheme, which requires landlords to check the immigration status of prospective tenants, is being challenged in High Court on the grounds that it discriminates against people on the basis of their nationality and ethnicity.

Under the scheme, which was introduced in 2016, landlords face the prospect of prosecution if they know or have “reasonable cause to believe” that the property they are letting is occupied by someone who does not have the right to rent in the UK.

The judicial review case brought by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrant (JCWI), which began on Tuesday, argues that the measures puts people who have a legal right to be in the UK at risk of homelessness and destitution.

Philippa Kaufman QC, the barrister representing JCWI, told the Court the scheme encourages landlords to give preference to white people with British passports in order to reduce the risk of prosecution.

She said Right to Rent was “a very onerous scheme” which presents “huge risks and burdens” for landlords, adding: “If someone is a British citizen they know they are safe.

“The evidence shows they prefer not just a British national but a British national with a passport to show, because then they can be sure there is no doubt.

“BAME British citizens are treated less favourably when they don’t have a passport than white British citizens. Where they do not have a passport you then resort to proxies – do they appear British? – ie skin colour, name, accent, and so forth.”

The hearing comes as new research by the the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) shows 44 per cent of private landlords are now less likely to rent to those without a British passport, a rise on last year.

The RLA, which represents about 50,000 private landlords letting 250,000 properties, shows that the fear of getting things wrong means 53 per cent of landlords are now less likely to rent to those with limited time to remain in the UK, up from 49 per cent in 2017.

In separate research, a series of mystery shopper exercises carried out by JCWI in February found that the scheme was causing foreign nationals and BAME people of all nationalities to experience race discrimination.

The findings also showed that the most vulnerable individuals, such as asylum seekers, stateless persons, and victims of modern-day slavery, who require landlords to do an online check with the Home Office to confirm they have been granted permission to rent, face very significant barriers.

In a report earlier this year, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration David Bolt concluded that the Right to Rent has “yet to demonstrate its worth as a tool to encourage immigration compliance”.

Mr Bolt added that the Home Office was “failing to coordinate, maximise or even measure effectively its use, while at the same time doing little to address the concerns of stakeholders.”

Chai Patel, legal policy director for JCWI, said Right to Rent was ”extraordinarily intrusive red tape” that “conscripts landlords as border officials on pain of imprisonment”, and accused the home secretary of “learning nothing from Theresa May’s mistakes”.

He added: “Sajid Javid promised he would learn the lessons of the Windrush scandal, which left many thousands of legal immigrants to the UK destitute, detained, and even deported.

“But he is ignoring our evidence that requiring landlords to check immigration status does not work and causes exactly the kinds of problems that the Windrush generation faced.

“Not only is he ignoring our evidence, he is fighting us in court to stop the Home Office from being required to do its own evaluation into whether the scheme is harming ethnic minorities and foreign nationals with every right to rent property.”

Rowan Smith, solicitor at Leigh Day, said: “The evidence is clear: the government’s policy is encouraging a significant number of landlords to refuse to rent to those without a British passport.

“As a result, non-British people living in the UK, and many from the BAME community, are treated less favourably due to their nationality.

“This represents a key plank of the hostile environment created by government, which has already had a hugely damaging impact on UK society through the Windrush Scandal.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”