Lawful tenants are being turned away in the pilot scheme of Right to Rent because of concerns over the unfamiliarity of some of the paperwork that has to be checked.

A briefing note this morning from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants labels the scheme as ‘dangerous’.

It says that agents and landlords should not be made into border guards, and that confusion over immigration documents is causing discrimination against tenants.

It warns that the confusion is not just in the pilot area, the West Midlands, but more widely elsewhere.

Under Right to Rent – which is due to be rolled out imminently on a national basis – agents and landlords must check the immigration status of all prospective tenants, or face criminal sanctions including up to five years in jail.

The briefing note has been issued after two surveys – one for landlords and agents, and the other for tenants and lodgers. Of 76 responses, 31 were from agents and landlords.

The Council also received other evidence including 17  instances of discrimination and unfair refusals of tenancies, and carried out a mystery shopping exercise.

Among the Council’s main concerns are that checks are not being taken uniformly but are “instead directed at certain individuals who appear as if they may be a migrant”.

Half of respondents who had been refused a tenancy felt that discrimination was a factor.

There was also widespread ignorance. Only 19% of agents and landlords nationwide were even aware of Right to Rent.

The briefing note also expresses concern that some landlords and agents are charging fees in order to undertake Right to Rent checks, and in some cases, passing on the cost of a potential fine on to the tenant in the form of increased rent or deposits.

One third of respondents from the pilot area had been charged a handling fee of over £50 and 20% had been charged over £100.

The Council said that Right to Rent “encourages discrimination and will create a hostile environment for all migrants and ethnic minorities in the UK seeking to access the private rental market”.

It warned: “Due to the current developments in Calais, we are now seeing a knee-jerk reaction from our government who want to appear even ‘tougher’ on illegal immigration through extending a dangerous scheme without proper consideration.”

Reacting to this morning’s report, the Residential Landlords Association blamed “the complexity of the Government’s plans to turn landlords into border police”.

It is calling for the national roll-out of the Right to Rent scheme to be halted until the Government has published its own assessment of the pilot scheme in the West Midlands.

RLA policy director David Smith, who is also EYE’s legal contributor, said: “Whilst the RLA opposes discrimination against tenants because of their race or nationality, the Government’s plans are causing confusion and anxiety.

“If the Government expect landlords and agents to act as border police it should provide the training and material needed to give them the confidence to carry out the checks required of them.

“In the absence of such support, this research sadly shows the inevitable consequences of the policy which the RLA has long voiced concerns about. Faced with considerable sanctions, landlords will inevitably play it safe where a tenant’s identity documents are either unclear or simply not known to them.”

The Home Office still has not published its own assessment of the pilot scheme.

Smith said: “It is concerning that the Government remains committed to rolling out the Right to Rent policy nationwide without first publishing its assessment of the impact it has had in its own pilot area.

“Ministers should halt plans to proceed with its roll-out to allow time for proper scrutiny and consideration of the impact it is likely to have.”