Under the initiative, financial support for migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected will also be stopped. About 10,000 people currently continue to receive a benefit of £36 per week, paid for by taxpayers, despite their asylum claims having been refused.
In addition, measures will be introduced to crack down on landlords renting out unfit properties to migrants. Local Government Minister Greg Clark said the government will take tough action against ‘rogue landlords who profit from illegal immigration’.
The proposals, which will be included in the upcoming Immigration Bill, come amid attempts by the British and French governments to overcome the migration crisis in Calais. Huge numbers of people try to cross the English Channel from there every night to reach Britain.
Under the initiative, the Home Office will inform landlords that their tenants have been refused asylum and no longer have the right to rent property. This will give landlords the right to terminate leases early, in some cases without a court order. Landlords will also need to check tenants' ‘right to rent’ before they are allowed to move in.
According to Greg Clark, landlords must fulfill their basic duties. If a landlord repeatedly violates these rules, they could face up to five years in prison or a fine. A blacklist of ‘rogue landlords’ will allow local councils to keep a record of those convicted of breaking the rules and ban them from renting out property if they have violated them several times.
According to Clark, the government intends to crack down on people who make money from ‘exploiting vulnerable people and undermining our immigration system’. ‘We will also require them to carry out a basic set of duties as landlords and take tough action against those who rent out dangerous, dirty and overcrowded properties,’ he said.
Richard Lambert, head of the National Landlords Association, said the proposals were a ‘welcome step forward’. ‘I am a little concerned that we are breaking a 40-year principle that a court should terminate a tenancy, but we really need something that will work in practice,’ he told the BBC. He also said the proposal for a five-year prison sentence as a penalty came as a surprise and appeared ‘almost out of nowhere’.
In his view, the government's desire to demonstrate a tough migration policy against the backdrop of the Calais crisis seems odd. He also expressed concern that evicted tenants might take desperate measures, such as barricading themselves inside a flat or house. ‘I think we need to think through the consequences of the measures we are introducing,’ Lambert said.