Additionally IRIS Consulting are working with the Home Office to gather feedback via focus groups between 11 and 29 May. If you are in the phase one area of Birmingham, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Dudley please email Rebecca.linley@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk orMiriam.davidson1@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk to add your voice.

The focus for evaluation is two fold:
• What is the impact on tenants, landlords and the wider community including administrative burden on landlords and any potential discrimination faced by prospective tenants.
• How is the process of the scheme working, and how should this be improved?

The scheme forms part of legislation which aims to restrict the ability of illegal immigrants to live and move around freely in the UK.

Work to raise the profile of landlord and agent obligations continues with the Home Office running high profile PR campaigns using a mix of local radio, online communities and press. Target groups for messaging include tenants in social housing who sublet, owner occupiers who rent out a room but do not identify themselves as landlords, and rogue landlords with substandard properties.

Recent online channels which have carried and developed coverage of the core messaging include Gumtree and housing associations; Optima Community Association, Family Housing Birmingham, WM Housing Group.

Enforcement activity is intelligence-led with parties sharing data under a Memorandum of Understanding established in January. So far only a handful of enforcement visits, referral notices and civil penalties have taken place although the aim is for one joint working operation to take place with each of the five local authority areas each month during phase one.

Original Post:
http://www.arla.co.uk/news/march-2015/let-government-know-what-you-think-about-landlord-checking-scheme-and-immigration-act-2014/