Starting a tenancy in the hostile environment

'Basically, there is a crisis in housing. There is so much help needed, and so little is provided', explained Maaz Salih, a London Renters Union (LRU) member, speaking at an online event, 'Starting a tenancy and right to rent checks', last November. The event was organised jointly by Law for Life and The Refugee Council to launch two new legal information resources – an information guide in English and a short film in Arabic. The event brought together people with lived experience of migration and housing insecurity, advocates, researchers, and legal practitioners who discussed the impact of the Government's Right to Rent (RtR) policy on refugees and migrants looking for private rented housing. In addition to Maaz Salih, speakers included Adonis Magema and Kama Petruczenko from Refugee Council, Bushra Manochehry from RETAS, Joe Tomlinson and Jed Meers from University of York, and John Crowley, from Leigh Day Solicitors.

"Just reaching out to landlords and talking to them, or visiting a house can be challenging."

Navigating England's increasingly expensive rental market as someone who has recently arrived in the country is a daunting process, to say the least. There are many challenges in sorting out a deposit and a guarantor whilst not knowing anyone in the country or having limited English. 'Just reaching out to landlords and talking to them, or visiting a house can be challenging', explained Bushra Manochehry from RETAS. This Leeds-based charity works with the local authority and volunteers to help refugees in the area find housing.

This issue is particularly acute for new refugees who are given only 28 days to find secure housing before being evicted from their asylum accommodation. As a result of the ban on work for asylum seekers, and the five weeks wait for Universal Credit, many find themselves without enough money to pay for a deposit. Refugee Council set up their Private Rented Scheme project to address this situation. Adonis Magema, the project coordinator, stressed the importance of their bond programme and working with landlords to convince them that it is safe to rent to refugees.

Right to Rent policy also requires private landlords to check the immigration documents of prospective tenants and may face fines or even prosecution if they rent to someone who does not have the right to rent. The event discussion pointed to the urgent need to abandon the Right to Rent policy (together with other hostile environment policies), as it poses a considerable barrier to access to housing for migrants. From Leigh Day Solicitors, John Crowley reflected on past legal efforts to challenge the policy in courts. Although in 2019, the High Court found that the policy causes unlawful discrimination, following a review brought by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision and found the discrimination justifiable under the law (The Guardian 21 April 2020).

Leigh Day Solicitors tried to bring another case to the European Court of Human Rights. The case, however, was deemed inadmissible. Commenting on the court decision, John Crowley said: 'Demonstrating that any specific individual has suffered discrimination as a result of the Right to Rent Scheme is inherently difficult except where a landlord has been explicit in their racism. Evidencing that a particular landlord's decision to refuse an individual's application to rent was discriminatory, and caused by the Right to Rent policy, is a near impossible task.'

Ethnicity and nationality may not be the only grounds for discrimination. University of York researchers Joe Tomlinson and Jed Meers presented evidence from an experimental study indicating that digital proofs of immigration status are treated less favourably by landlords compared to paper documentation. Although the study focused on EU citizens, the findings likely affect anyone required to use digital documentation to prove their right to rent. Recommendations emerging from the study suggest that the Home Office must proactively investigate and review the potential for discrimination in this context and review its Equality Impact Assessment. At the time of writing this, the Home Office published an evaluation of the Right to Rent Scheme. Although the assessment concludes that 'there is no statistically significant evidence of differential treatment' between UK and non-UK prospected tenants, it also found patterns of discrimination in landlords' behaviours, especially regarding ethnicity. It is also worth noting that the methodology did not involve prospective tenants likely to experience discrimination. The findings are also at odds with the Home Office's own overarching impact assessment of hostile environment policies which found 'indirect discriminatory impacts [of hostile environment policies, including Right to Rent] on the basis of nationality and colour.'

Although significant work is being done to support new refugees with housing in the UK, the status quo remains dire, and homelessness is an acute issue. While the Refugee Council is calling on the Mayor of London to set up a deposit scheme (among other things), an urgent need exists for reliable, accessible information tailored to the needs of those who may be renting in England for the first time.

In this spirit, Law for Life's two new resources aim to help people get ready to rent. Maaz Salih, who features in the film as a narrator, explained: 'One of the things that the film addressed well is the right to information. The film provides information to people who don't speak English and don't know how to look for information, in an accessible way. It is important to address the information needs of different groups in a targeted way and the film addresses this need beautifully.' The resources effectively create a sense of a process, Maaz noted. They shed light on how renting practically works and explain the basics like rental agreements, tenants' rights and responsibilities and how to deal with Right to Rent checks.

_{Last edited 8 March 2023}