In the first four years following the introduction of a similar set of rules designed to curb employment of illegal workers the UK Border Agency issued nearly 7,000 notifications of liability, resulting in £65m of fines.
Paul Walshe, head of Property Reclaim, said: “Many landlords already have stringent checks in place but few will be conducting checks to see if a tenant can legally live in the UK.
“The rules have yet to be put into law and we don’t know if checks will be retrospective but we do know that it will add to the already heavy administrative and legislative burden that private landlords already face and we advise them to start preparing now.
“Currently a tenant may be living illegally but paying rent. But if tenants are identified as illegal, landlords should not assume that they will continue to pay rent, safe in the knowledge that they might well be deported.”
There are 4.8m UK private sector businesses and 2m private landlords that could be affected by the proposed changes.
