Response from CIH to the draft code of practice for landlords carrying out Right to Rent checks

The government has launched a consultation on a draft code of practice for landlords on avoiding unlawful discrimination when conducting ‘right to rent’ checks in the private rented sector. 

This is the response from the Chartered Institute of Housing. CIH is the professional body for people working in housing and runs the housing rights website, which explains the eligibility for housing and benefits for different categories of migrant.

CIH welcomes the updated code of practice but we have serious reservations about right to rent checks and their discriminatory effects, which will not be remedied by an updated code. CIH argued against the introduction of rent checks when they were first proposed and has consistently argued against them since. 

Briefly, our arguments are:

1. There was evidence of discrimination in the Home Office’s original research into the pilot scheme before checks were introduced across England. This was augmented by early evidence from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.
2. Right to Rent restricts the number of available and affordable homes for migrants. Research by Generation Rent in 2022 found that more than two in five migrant private renters had struggled to find a landlord or letting agent to rent to them.
3. In 2024, The Voice of the Landlord Survey found that 56% of respondents who said they were unable to rent to people without a UK passport said it was due to the risk of a civil penalty for failing to comply with the Right to Rent regulations.
4. Research from 2023 into the experiences of Ukrainian refugees found that more than half had struggled to find a landlord or letting agent to rent to them as a migrant or refugee. This is particularly concerning given public awareness and government publicity that Ukrainians have permission to stay.

This is only a snapshot of evidence of problems faced by migrants, and by non-White applicants more generally, in the private rented sector. A code of practice is of little use if landlords are unaware of it or ignore it, as many are or do. In practice discrimination is made easier by the scheme, as in a competitive rented sector it is easy for landlords to overlook prospective tenants who present a non-UK passport, without giving any overt impression of discrimination.

The Home Secretary must be aware that the Renters’ Rights Act makes discrimination on the grounds of benefits and having a family (i.e. children) illegal – and will be in force soon. Those that breach the Act can face a civil penalty of up to £7,000. The Act also allows the Secretary of State to extend this provision to other categories. If the government is really concerned about discrimination, it could extend the scope of the Act to cover immigration status for anyone who has leave (and therefore has a right to rent).

CIH therefore remains opposed to Right to Rent checks, but in the context of the issuing of a new code, we would urge the Home Secretary to:

• Undertake new research on the code’s effectiveness once introduced
• Widen this research to cover the prevalence of discrimination in the sector – and the extent to which this discrimination is a response to the need to make right to rent checks – and the stiff penalties that landlords face under the regulations.

CIH would be happy to comment on or contribute to such research.