A SCHEME forcing landlords to carry out immigration checks was upheld by the Court of Appeal today despite judges agreeing that it can cause racial discrimination. 

Under the government’s right to rent scheme, landlords face huge fines and even prison sentences if they fail to confirm a tenant’s right to stay in Britain.

A High Court case brought by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) last year ruled the scheme unlawful, with judges agreeing that it caused landlords to discriminate against potential tenants because of their nationality and ethnicity.

But three judges in the Court of Appeal overturned the ruling today.

Lord Justice Hickinbottom said that the scheme was justified as a “proportionate means of achieving its legitimate objective.” 

This is despite earlier saying: “As a result of the scheme, some landlords do discriminate against potential tenants who do not have British passports and those who do not have ethnically British attributes.” 

The JCWI argues that the scheme causes racial discrimination as there’s “effectively no consequence for taking the ‘low-risk’ option, opting for white people with British passports,” and said that it will appeal against the decision in the Supreme Court. 

“The Home Office has always maintained that this racial discrimination wasn’t caused by the scheme,” a JCWI statement said. “Now we have two court rulings confirming that the government is causing racial discrimination in the housing market against ethnic-minority British people like the Windrush generation.

“The government should be doing everything in its power to stamp out discrimination. Instead, it is still arguing it should be allowed to cause it.”

The London Renters Union vented its frustration on social media today, saying: “How can Court of Appeal acknowledge right to rent causes racial discrimination but not outlaw it? 

“There should be no borders in housing full stop!”

The scheme was first introduced in 2016 in England as part of the government’s hostile-environment policy to crack down on illegal immigration. 

Since then it has faced criticism from both campaigners and landlords. Last year the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) said that the scheme has turned landlords into an “untrained and unwilling border police.”

RLA research has found that landlords are less likely to rent to those without British passports or those with limited leave to remain for fear of getting the checks wrong.