When entering the UK you may have noticed that the ePassport gates aren’t exclusive to British nationals. Instead, visitors from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and the US are able to enter the UK via these ePassport gates. This group is known as B5JSSK nationals.
B5JSSK nationals are automatically granted 6 months Leave to Enter as a visitor upon passing through these gates. Therefore, by using ePassport gates these individuals are granted Leave to Enter without receiving a stamp in their passport or any form of written confirmation of the date their leave was granted or is due to expire.
The lack of physical confirmation about a B5JSSK national’s status in the UK can pose issues when a landlord attempts to conduct a right to rent check.
The Home Office advises that landlords can establish a B5JSSK national’s right to rent status by checking their passport and other evidence of the date they last travelled to/entered the UK. This evidence can include one of the following:
A boarding pass for travel to the UK (it can be an original or copy and can be a digital or physical version). It must establish the date of arrival in the UK which is within the last six months.
Booking confirmation for travel to the UK. Again, the date of arrival in the UK must be within the last six months.
Any other documentary evidence which established the date of arrival in the UK in the last six months.
The Home Office guidance also confirms that although visitors only have six months’ leave, landlords who have conducted these Right to Rent checks correctly will obtain a statutory excuse against a civil penalty for 12-months from the date of the check.
The Home Office advises that landlords need only conduct a follow up check prior to the end of that 12-month period.
This updated guidance leaves many issues unresolved. The main issue regards the fact that the guidance has ‘no legal standing’, yet it still contradicts the legally-binding Code of Practice, but other issues and criticisms include:
The Code of Practice lists the documents that can be relied upon in establishing a right to rent, but boarding passes, flight confirmations, or the suggested alternatives are NOT on the list. Therefore, landlords who accept boarding passes or alternatives are having to rely on non-binding guidance to conduct checks that are unlawful under the current Code of Practice.
The RLA, which represents residential landlords, argues that the guidance cannot give ‘any legal cover for landlords’ without updating the Code of Practice too.
The updated guidance assures landlords that the Home Office will NOT pursue a civil penalty against any landlord that has conducted a check on a B5JSSK national correctly. However, given the harsh penalties in place for landlords who fail to conduct the right to rent checks property, it is clear that this is a risk many will not wish to take.
The updated guidance does mention that the Home Office is seeking to update secondary legislation and the Code of Practice to reflect the changes relating to B5JSSK nationals as soon as possible. However, given the months of planning that went into expanding the use of ePassport gates and the precarious situation that tenants and landlords now find themselves in, many would argue that ‘as soon as possible’ is not soon enough.
B5JSSK refers to nationals of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States.