For the new problem of renting a house for British students, the landlord must first check the passport and other documents.

I have collected and sorted out "New Problems in Renting Houses for British Students" for your reference. I hope it helps you! ! !

Recently, the new immigration law of the British Home Office requires landlords to check the identity of tenants. Now the consultation period has ended and it is expected to be implemented next year. The concern caused by this new policy is that overseas students may be "unable or extremely difficult" to find private rental housing in the UK.

According to the new immigration law, before renting the house to the other party, the landlord must first check the tenant's residence permit and other identification documents to make sure that he has the right to live legally in the UK, otherwise he will face a fine of 3,000 pounds. The British Home Office believes that this can prevent illegal immigrants from staying in the UK for a long time. The Ministry of the Interior will also launch online inquiry, e-mail and telephone consultation to help landlords confirm the identity of tenants.

If this bill is implemented, it will have a great impact on immigrants and international students. Housing rental companies and others believe that foreign students bring billions of pounds of income to the British economy, and the British government gains huge benefits from visas and tuition fees, but why do you hand over the responsibility of verification to landlords and real estate agents? They do this kind of work without any income, but they have to sacrifice time to make money for inspection by the Ministry of the Interior. Moreover, the staff of the Ministry of the Interior have received professional training to identify the authenticity of documents, while landlords and real estate agents have little professional knowledge.

UKCISA, an organization engaged in international student affairs, is worried about this, pointing out that it will be extremely difficult or impossible for foreign students to find private rental housing in Britain. Because most international students have to arrange accommodation in the UK before going to the UK, many of them need to finalize accommodation arrangements before obtaining visas, and the new regulations of the Ministry of the Interior will make this arrangement "illegal or impossible". The British Council for International Student Affairs issued the above warning in an internal document. Another potential problem is that international students need to renew their visas frequently while studying in the UK, and it may take up to three months to hand in their passports to the Home Office. During this period, if they need to rent or change houses, they will not be able to provide documents for legal residence in the UK. It is mentioned in the summary of the draft new regulations of the Ministry of the Interior that if the documents provided by the renter are "not clear enough", the landlord can verify the identity and residence qualification of the renter through telephone and email inquiry services. However, the British Association for International Student Affairs suggests that the process of renting a house in reality may need to be decided immediately, and landlords are not allowed to spend a few days verifying their identity. (Author Hung Tsai, Education Office of the Chinese Embassy in the UK)