It’s not often I am truly outraged by a government announcement, but I have to say that I am shocked and horrified at the announcement of a massive increase in fines for breaches of the right-to-rent rules.
The government announcement states that the fines will increase as follows:
- For lodger landlords, the fine for a first offence will go up from £80 to £5,000, and
- For a repeat offence from £500 to £10,000
- For ordinary residential landlords, the fine for a first offence will go up from £1,000 to £10,000, and
- For a repeat office from £3,000 to £20,000
The new fines are due to come into force at the start of 2024.
These are massive increases and, if imposed for the full amount, could well put landlords and lodger landlords into bankruptcy.
These unreasonable fines
The effect of the new fines on Lodger Landlords
I have to say that I consider these sums to be wholly unreasonable. In particular for lodger landlords.
‘Proper’ landlords renting to tenants should be aware that the sector is regulated and take care to inform themselves of the rules and regs before renting out their property.
However, traditionally lodger landlords have been less heavily regulated – to the extent that they don’t even pay tax on the first £7,500 income.
People normally take in a lodger when they are hard up, to earn a bit of extra cash. Lodger landlords are generally just ordinary people – for example, families trying to earn a bit of extra cash to pay for things for their kids, or the elderly trying to supplement their pensions.
What possible justification can there be for slapping a fine of £5,000 on them if they inadvertently rent out their spare room to someone who, unknown to them, is an illegal immigrant?
Many of them will have no idea that they even need to carry out a right-to-rent check, let alone the level of fines involved. It will be interesting to see if there is any publicity about this.
There is also the fact that, with the current shortage of housing, we should be encouraging people to rent out their spare rooms, not frightening them off. Surely, every room rented out is potentially one less person sofa surfing or forced onto the street.
The effect of the new fines on Landlords
So far as ‘ordinary’ landlords are concerned, yes, they should be aware of the rules, but with fines of this level, they are going to do all they can to avoid the possibility of being fined.
We already know that the right-to-rent rules cause landlords to discriminate when they otherwise would not do so.
This was found to be the case in the right-to-rent litigation two years ago (explained here by barrister Justin Bates) when the Court of Appeal held that as it was a question of government policy, the discrimination was allowable.
Faced with the prospect of fines of £10,000 per occupier (so if a family of four were let in, the landlord could face a fine of up to £40,000), most landlords are going to be very cautious indeed who they rent to and are likely to avoid anyone without a British passport. Or even anyone who does not ‘look British’.
So one result of the fines increase is that it is going to be even harder for ethnic minority persons (with a right to rent) to find somewhere to live.
Is this the sort of society you want to live in?
Xenophobia in the home office
Most illegal immigrants are asylum seekers fleeing dreadful circumstances. We should be trying to help them, not criminalising them.
The Home Office seems to be obsessed with the ‘evil people smugglers’ and totally blind to the (in most cases) wholly justifiable needs of the people on the boats. Most of whom, statistics show, are usually granted asylum once their case is processed.
That is until the deeply offensive Illegal Migration Act 2023, which renders illegal migrants ineligible ever to apply for settlement or citizenship in this country, comes into force. The fact that they might be fleeing intolerable conditions is apparently of no interest to our Home Office.
They also refuse to accept that, for many migrants, there IS no legal route to apply for asylum in this country.
What they should be doing instead
I cannot understand why (as I suggested here) the Home Office doesn’t just train more civil servants to carry out the processing so that:
- Those who are found to be genuine cases can be allowed to get on with their lives , and
- Those who have no right to stay can be deported immediately
This would reduce the massive cost of housing people pending processing and provide much-needed workers for the NHS and the hospitality and other short-staffed sectors.
And finally,
The number of people seeking asylum in this country today is almost certainly peanuts compared to the influx of migrants who will be seeking somewhere else to live in future years when climate change (partially caused by us, remember – we started the Industrial use of coal) renders their country unlivable.
We need to prepare for this and put in place procedures for dealing with proper migrants, welcoming them, teaching them English and integrating them into society. Not penalising landlords who give them a home.
Migrants have always contributed to society and helped our country develop and advance. They are not, on the whole, criminals and wastrels but good people simply trying to find somewhere they can live in peace. Over the years, immigrants have made massive contributions to society – what about Mo Farah (for example), and the many Jews who came here during the war?
We should be deeply ashamed of the stance our government is taking.
I do not believe that it reflects the views of ordinary voters (who are, on the whole, kind, compassionate people) – as no doubt they will find out at the next election.
Greedy landlords buy up cheap housing just to make a profit.They never live in the places themselves.Most properties are bought at auction.Stopping low earners from getting on the housing ladder.Nobody should ever have the right to own more than one home.