EU Tenants and the EU Settled Scheme

The effects of Brexit are being felt by the EU citizens in the UK, even before the finalisation of the divorce deal (or no deal). While the UK has already started to issue passports without the European Union on them, the actual deal or no deal decision has yet to be taken.

The Brexit has hit the EU citizens hard. As per the Residential Landlords Association (RLA), many landlords are refusing to take EU citizens as future tenants due to the confusion over Brexit. In preparation for the impeding Brexit, the UK Government has introduced the EU Settlement Scheme.

This scheme will provide the EU nationals in the UK with a settled status, i.e. Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK (ILR). EU citizens already in the UK who register under this scheme before mid 2021 will be entitled to stay in the UK and not get affected by the Brexit.

However, the Settlement Scheme has created more complications than solutions. The registration needs to be via an App which is compatible with few Android operating systems. This causes problem for those who don’t have the updated Android phone or do not use smartphones.

The applicants are not informed about the intricacies of the scheme and find it difficult to even fill the form without any external help. Even though the EU nationals have a right to rent, the landlords are reluctant to take them as tenants as they are not sure about their settled status.

In the UK, a landlord found to have taken in an illegal tenant, can be charged with £ 5,000 per adult as fine. This deters the landlord from taking in tenants that they are even a little suspicious of.

Initially, the landlords could easily check the resident permit to know if the tenant was an legal migrant, they will now have to go on the Home Office website to check the settled status of the EU citizen, as the Settled Status scheme will not issue any cards.

There is no doubt that the EU Settled Scheme will help the EU nationals and their dependents in the UK. However a more comprehensive plan needs to be formed to help them with the scheme.