I have recently put my house up for rent. 90 percent of viewing requests have come from African migrants working in health and social care on a long term visa.
As far as I can see, they are working, have a right to rent and if they can pass referencing… look to be ideal tenants.
Why are they struggling to rent? Am I missing something? Do estate agents not accept non UK nationals and is there anything from a lawful standpoint that i should be aware of or anything that makes this high risk?
need to do usual right to rent checks via their share code and date of birth which they should give you at the viewing so you can check they’re legit.
Many LLs would consider them higher risk because
they may have different (or no) understandings of how to treat/maintain a let property than the LL
they may not understand the risks of condensation having not lived in a cold climate
they could simply leave the country at any point (owing arrears, compensation for damage, etc)
they could lose their right to reside here and, if so, there are different (and therefore not usually familiar) procedures for removing them from the property
From my own personal experience (having been an overseas migrant for 28 years of my life (including 21 years working), I have perhaps more sympathy than many LLs with migrants. I consider them on an equal footing with other applicants. However, I have frank discussions during the viewing about their experience of living here, particularly in regard to maintenance and preventing mold. Any doubts, as with any viewing, and I don’t proceed.
We let one property to a Nigerian couple (now with a newborn) 6 months ago who work in the care sector. They treat the house better than any of the three British tenants we had prior to them. YMMV.