Thks for the response
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Hi Daz, looks like youāre right, apologies for any confusion caused.
I had Schedule 1, 1 (1) (2) in mind which states: āBut, subject as follows, if the amount of rent payable in respect of any relevant period (āP1ā) is more than the amount of rent payable in respect of any later relevant period (āP2ā), the additional amount payable in respect of P1 is a prohibited payment.ā
However, Iād completely forgotten about Schedule 1, 1 (1) (5) which clarifies: āWhere the later relevant period is a different length of time to the earlier relevant period, the amount of rent payable in respect of the later period is to be treated as the proportionate amount of rent that would be payable in respect of that period if it were the same length of time as the earlier period.ā
Hi Tim - without wanting to get into a debate on the legals, I think those parts of the Act are only one part of the legislation landlords who arenāt using our tenancy creation need to worry about.
I believe our legal team also protected against other ways landlords could be tripped up, such as for example the advance rent payment being seen legally as a deposit, which would immediately cause issues.
The legislation is non-trivial, and sometimes illogical, which is why our legal team (along with 10+ years of landlord feedback) have spent significant amounts of time to ensure our processes are in line with legislation. This is something we also have to review constantly to ensure changing laws donāt trip up landlords.
If you are going it alone, I really would recommend having a lawyer look over any non-standard changes you make to any ASTs you issue, as well as your standard AST itself. If you are a lawyer yourself, then Iām sure you know the risks for landlords not doing this already!
You can be sent to jail for 6 months if the authorities think youāve rented to illegal immigrants! I wouldnāt even know what the correct immigration papers are supposed to look like! .
Its a lot easier these days. You donāt look at immigration papers or visas any more, just ask the tenant for a share code. You enter the code into the Home Office website it tells you if they have a Right to Rent.
Hi David - Yep, the share code is certainly helpful but worth noting it doesnāt apply to all applicants:
If your tenant can prove their right to rent using an accepted, original document, you cannot insist they use the online service instead.
We do provide right to rent guidance and capture the details needed as part of our referencing service, but sadly a fully digital solution is quite possible yet.
Perhaps it is more complicated than I thought. In another part of the guidance under the section:
Documents which are no longer acceptable for a manual right to rent check
It says:
A biometric immigration document (current or expired) issued by the Home Office. This includes Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) and Biometric Residence Cards (BRCs).
So Iām not sure what someone would use to show their visa manually.
It looks like a total dogs breakfast and as clear as mud. For example, why do they use the word biometric? On residence cards it just says āresidence cardā, it doesnāt use the word biometric, so how do we know what is biometric and non-biometric? I guess it is that symbol with a circle in a rectangle? But Iām guessing.
So in the case of foreign students, they have biometric residence permits, so they are not allowed to insist on manual checking as the biometric permit is not an allowed document, so they have to give a share code. Something tells me the students have no idea about these rules eitherā¦
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NEED URGENT HELP
Hi- I am in similar situation where there is a couple with 6 year old kid where in wife is a Business student and husband claims to be software engineer. Wife has been in this country for last couple of months and was sharing room with someone and husband has joined last month. Husband showed a work contract fixed for 2 years (its a small company). and they both have right to rent (which i verified). Wife shared her university ID and resident permit. They both shared the immigration stamp entry on their passports. Open rent reference expectedly failed. They are ready to pay 11 months advanced rent plus 1 month as deposit security. Is it legal to take 11 months rent in advance which will be more than the cap of 12000 including allowed by OpenRent (as per EU law - https://help.openrent.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/360028678371-Why-there-is-a-12-000-limit-on-Rent-in-Advance-)? If not, what is the legal way to get the money to my account directly? Can we such kind contract? What is the pro and cons of 6 months advance rent vs 11 months advance rent? Should I ask for a guarantor or advance rent is enough?
TIA
So what did you do then? I rented to overseas studentsā¦ they paid the rent - but the damage was 3 x the amout of rent I received. They were abusive and threatening despite clear evidence of the damage causedā¦ Is it worth it to you - Do frequent inspections I mean very frequent!
The couple I was considering were refugees albeit wealthy ones but they didnāt want to proceed. So I went with two young female students who I find much easier to deal with than say a family, and I prefer students as they rotate out after a year or two and I like to have the option to sell the property free of tenants. I am worried about s21 ending so Iād rather have people who are by nature itinerant so that at some point I will get property back without too much trouble.
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