A recent movement in the United Kingdom is attempting to legally require landlords and property managers to deny rental property to illegal immigrants through the tenant screening process. This practice remains illegal in the United States, but this movement in the UK should be watched closely. The new law if passed would make it a criminal offense to rent out an apartment to an illegal immigrant. The new measure would force landlords and property managers to conduct extra tenant background checks to verify immigration status. The current debate in the UK has become highly contentious.
Not everyone in the UK wants this measure to pass including the Labour party that stated such a law if passed would lead to widespread discrimination.
From TheExpressAndStar.com (Oct 11, 15):
According to the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, more than 40% of landlords who took part in the pilot said the scheme had made them less likely to rent a property to someone who did not have a British passport, while more than a quarter said they were reluctant to engage with people with foreign names or accents.
Ultimately a new law making it illegal to rent property to illegal immigrants could become a human rights issue. Not only would landlords, leasing agents and property managers be required to confirm immigration status, the potential for bias and/or disparate impact becomes significant. The challenges to such a potential law in the UK are numerous. “The Equality and Human Rights Commission is reported to have warned MPs ahead of a reading of the Immigration Bill in the House of Commons that the Right to Rent proposals which may ultimately lead to the fast-tracked eviction of illegal immigrants and their children risk breaching human rights law.”
{Partial Excerpt from LettingAgentToday.co.uk (Oct. 13, 15)}
With this issue becoming a priority discussion going on now in Britain it is quite realistic to believe such a measure could soon be debated in the US Congress. Especially after the recent terror attacks in Paris, France, more countries are going to be taking a deeper look into the people living in their country and their immigration policies.
To learn more about how checking immigration status through the tenant screening process via a potential new law in the UK raises many challenges and how that debate could end up in the US Congress read recent TenantScreeningUSA.com press release.