One of the most interesting news items we’ve seen at Gerson Relocation has been reviewed this week, concerning the recent Right to Rent legislation and its potential impact on the global mobility marketplace during 2016.
Right to Rent, which came into force from February in the UK, means in essence that prior to renting a property in this country a tenant must have their immigration documents check to ensure they’re able to be resident in the UK.
The article our management team came across here is well worth a read and review of Right to Rent.
As leading international relocation experts, here at Gerson we’ve known about this for a while – and it’s not just letting agents in the UK wanting to see an official work permit for foreign assignees coming to work in London and other major UK cities on new projects.
For example, high street Banks will also want to see immigration documents if a new foreign assignee wishes to open a British bank account whilst they work on a UK-based project.
The new Right to Rent legislation will have a cost impact on clients, because if they aren’t willing to use a corporate lease (whereby the client is the tenant, and the foreign assignee sub-lets the rented accommodation from the company) then they may need to pay for temporary housing for the assignee instead. This is a costly alternative, of course.
Preview trips for rented accommodation may also be delayed unless a property landlord agrees to a new Tenancy in principle, unless the landlord agrees to a video call where the assignee shows the landlord official documents – but, to be honest, as leading international moving experts we feel that this is a difficult option as how would documents be seen to be 100% genuine and not potentially fraudulent via a video call?
Looking at the state of the letting industry at the moment, it’s also highly likely that many letting agents would seek to charge an additional fee for updating any Right to Rent checks.
As experts in international removal and human capital management, we’re working with clients where we had used unaccompanied home searches: this is where we found a rented property via the internet, and the assignee moved in on arrival in the UK.
This option will become redundant, unless a client with a corporate account agrees for the new Tenancy Agreement to be in their name – or if the landlord agrees to a Tenancy in principle.
One thing is for sure – the Right to Rent legislation is here to stay, and all clients utilising the skills of foreign assignees now need to ensure that they inform executive talent moving into the UK of the paperwork needed to move into the UK to work on new projects in 2016.
The Right to Rent legislation will affect the global mobility market – in terms of time, policy changes and cost. Ensure that your HR and global mobility departments work together.
If you’d like to find our more about Gerson Relocation and our corporate relocation, domestic relocation, international moving and global mobility services, please feel free to contact us here.
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