The High Court yesterday allowed a judicial review of the Government’s Right to Rent policy.

The application by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants was supported by the Residential Landlords Association, whose policy director David Smith said: “Landlords will welcome the High Court decision to allow a judicial review of the Right to Rent policy which has put them in the impossible position of acting as untrained border police trying to ascertain who does and who does not have the right to be in the country.

“This has created difficulties for many legitimate tenants as landlords are forced to play safe and only rent to those with a UK passport.

“The announcement is an important step towards overturning a policy which the Government’s own inspectorate had described as having yet to demonstrate its worth.”

Under the scheme, landlords or their agents have to check the immigration status of all prospective tenants. Breaches attract both civil and criminal penalties.

In court, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants argued that Right to Rent leads to discrimination of some groups, including British people, and the Windrush generation who do not have the documentation to prove their right to be in the UK.