Landlords have been warned they face legal action if they discriminate against tenants when conducting Right to Rent checks.

New government guidance says landlords and letting agents must not simply check the status of those who they think appear or are likely to be migrants, or treat those with a time-limited right to rent, those who have access to the Home Office online checking service and those who provide a manual documentation more or less favourably.

It adds that they mustn’t make assumptions about a person’s right to rent, or their immigration status based on their colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, accent or length of time they have been resident in the UK. Those who are found to have done so may be subject to a discrimination claim in court.

Approved

The code of practice about how to avoid discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 – which must be approved by the Equality and Human Rights Commission – sits alongside broader changes in the Renters’ Rights Act that strengthen anti-discrimination rules. It applies to residential tenancy agreements starting on or after 1st October as well as where a repeat check on an existing tenant is required from this date to retain a statutory excuse.

Focuses

The government says that while discrimination can take various forms, this code specifically focuses on avoiding race discrimination. Alongside this, landlords and letting agents must not subject prospective or existing tenants to harassment and, although it explains this doesn’t apply to sexual orientation or religion and belief, it says harassment on these grounds “would very likely amount to unlawful direct discrimination”.

The code also says they should be consistent in how they conduct checks on all prospective tenants, including those who they believe are more likely to be British citizens. They must ensure no prospective tenants are discouraged or excluded, either directly or indirectly, because of a known or perceived protected characteristic, and when adopting automated or digital onboarding processes must not introduce or perpetuate discriminatory outcomes.

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