FRESH fears have been raised that a crackdown on illegal immigrants will be extended to Scotland as a report finds it is leading to discrimination against England’s ethnic minorities.

The Tory Government’s Right to Rent scheme makes it a criminal offence for landlords and agents to let properties to anyone without official permission to be in the UK.

Those found to have broken the rules face up to five years imprisonment or fines as high as £3000.

When it was first raised as part of efforts to drive down net migration, concerns emerged about whether or not landlords were qualified to check immigration paperwork and of the consequences for minority communities.

Today a report into the impact of the law reveals it has caused discrimination against the UK’s minority communities.

Tenants who “seem British”, have a “British-sounding” name or hold a valid UK passport are now said to be seen as a “safe bet”.

By contrast, half of landlords say they are less likely to consider allowing foreign nationals to move in, regardless of their permissions, and more than 40 per cent said they were more likely to reject people who do not have UK passports.

And, in a mystery shopping exercise, one prospective tenant from a British black minority ethnic (BME) background was refused by 60 per cent of landlords.

The findings are revealed one year after the introduction of the law across England. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), which compiled the report, claims the scheme’s roll-out into Scotland and other devolved parts of the UK is “imminent”.

Responding, Stuart McDonald MP, the SNP’s spokesperson for Asylum, Immigration and Border Control, said: “It is extremely concerning that the Home Office could roll out this toxic scheme in Scotland any time they see fit. Housing policy is devolved to Holyrood and this should not be allowed to happen without the consent of the Scottish Government.”

The JCWI found Right to Rent creates “structural incentives” to break anti-discrimination laws, favouring white and UK-born people over others, and does not have means of redress for victims of prejudice.

The organisation also says the government has included no adequate mechanisms to monitor unfair treatment and claims only 31 of the 654 people purported to have come to the attentions of the Home Office through the scheme have been deported, with no evidence about whether or not the remainder are entitled to stay.

There are more than 400 acceptable documents proving right to rent from within the EU alone and one Glasgow landlord, who did not want to be named, told The National his sector is not qualified to navigate the complexities of the system.

He said: “It’s a ridiculous responsibility to put on us. Landlords are not the police. We are not the immigration service.

“This will appeal to people’s baser instincts. I’d hope that myself and my partner will not change the way we look at prospective tenants, but others certainly will.”

Another said he will work on “self-preservation principles” if the scheme crosses the border, saying: “If I’m faced with the prospect of five years in the pokey, I’m going to put people like McKenzies and MacDonalds in.”

JCWI chief executive Saira Grant said: “The Right to Rent scheme is failing on all fronts. It is clearly discriminatory, it is putting landlords in an impossible position, and there is no evidence that it is doing anything to tackle irregular immigration.

“Implementing a scheme that traps and discriminates against British citizens is absurd. Expanding the scheme to devolved nations without taking into account the discrimination it causes would be misguided and unjustifiable.”

Kirby Costa Campos, a US citizen married to an EU national with full right to rent in the UK, was rejected under the scheme, telling the JCWI: “Two days before we were supposed to move in, we got an email from the rental agency saying: ‘We’re not going to release the keys to you. You’ve lost your deposit with us, because you’re not legal in this country.

“I was crying for that entire 24-hour period. My child was going to be on the street. It was absolutely awful.”

McDonald claims Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill has been unable to “come up with even a hint that this scheme has been effective in achieving its aims”.

However, a Home Office spokesman said it is working: “The Right to Rent scheme deters people from staying in the UK when they have no right to do so.

“Landlords and agents are routinely conducting checks and we are taking action where illegal migrants are found to be renting property.

“We have found no evidence the scheme itself causes discrimination and it is incorrect to say that we are not monitoring the scheme.”

Late last night a spokesperson also confirmed that moves to extend the rules across the UK's internal borders are under way.

A statement said: "We are currently engaging with the devolved administrations on extending the Right to Rent scheme to the rest of the UK."

Responding to the report, the Scottish Government said: “We have made clear to UK ministers that we have serious concerns about their Right to Rent scheme and the Housing Minister recently wrote to the UK Government again for clarification on how they see this scheme working in Scotland.

“Discrimination in any form has no place in Scotland and we share the views of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants that the Right to Rent scheme may lead to landlords operating in a discriminatory way, marginalising vulnerable migrants and placing additional pressures on local authorities.”