There have been 636 inquiries since December 1 to the helpline set up to advise letting agents and landlords about immigration checks on tenants.

The figure has been revealed by the Home Office.

The average call lasts three minutes and 29 seconds.

The Home Office Landlords Helpline was set up last September, ahead of the December 1 launch of the ‘right to rent’ pilot scheme in the west midlands.

Since the helpline launched, 258 inquiries have been identified as coming from landlords or agents outside the west midlands.

There is no information as to when the pilot scheme will be rolled out, or whether this will be done all at once or by regions. However, the roll-out is due this year.

Tijen Ahmet, immigration solicitor at SA Law, has written this briefing especially for Eye readers:

The Immigration Act 2014 aims to make immigration checks mandatory for all UK landlords, and a pilot ‘right to rent’ scheme was rolled out in the midlands on December 1.

It enforces checks on the immigration status of tenants, sub-tenants and lodgers, over 18, entering into new tenancies, to assess whether they have the right to rent in the UK.

The Advisory Panel set up by the Home Office are evaluating the scheme and if successful it will be replicated nationally throughout this year.

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) has recently put forward some early indications of the progress of the scheme, having surveyed landlords and tenants in the pilot area since the roll-out, and finding that tenants are being charged an extra £100 in administration fees.

The survey also indicates that landlords are now more hesitant to offer viewings to anyone needing more time to provide paperwork, meaning migrants are more likely to be turned down.

This hints at the potential headaches being experienced at the scheme’s mid-way point. Other issues agents and landlords need to be aware of include:

• The intricacy of understanding visa documents

The Home Office have published “summary guidance for landlords”. However, landlords and agents have no experience of immigration checks and there will be circumstances that legislation does not address. For example, there is no provision for asylum seekers who make their own arrangements for accommodation rather than it being provided by the Secretary of State.

• Potential discrimination against non-British tenants

If the prospective tenant does not produce a British passport there is a high chance they will not be offered the property, as the JCWI is finding. Likewise if a document provided cannot be understood, it is arguably easier to offer it to a British tenant. The Home Office have published an Anti-Discrimination Code for landlords and agents to prevent such discrimination.

• Uncertainty and risk in using the Home Office telephone helpline service

This helpline is available to support agents and landlords with checks where there is no clear evidence of the right to rent. However, there is a danger that the helpline advice could be applied wrongly. Secondly, where responses simply come back with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the right to rent with no obvious rationale, it is unlikely to provide reassurance – and the risk therefore becomes too high to take that person on as a tenant.

• Extra cost implications

There will be administrative costs for landlords and agents to obtain and store confidential information, alongside the burden of a potential maximum fine of £3,000 if tenants are found to be illegally renting and who have not been checked beforehand in compliance with the obligation.

Whilst the trial scheme is not without flaws, with 82% of landlords (Residential Landlords’ Association survey) strongly opposing the plan, immigration minister James Brokenshire says the checks “will also act as a new line of attack against unscrupulous landlords who exploit people by renting out substandard, overcrowded and unsafe accommodation”.

We anticipate the scheme will be rolled out more widely and should ensure that landlords and letting agents are well informed about the expectation legislation may impose on them.