The Housing Authority is confident that protective schemes being proposed in the UK will not be necessary on the island.

Authority president, Deputy Bernard Flouquet, said strict penalties should prove to be an effective deterrent.

The Authority administers the Housing Control and Right to Work Law, which requires everyone, including self-employed people, who starts or changes employment in the island to hold a "right to work document" indicating that they are lawfully housed.

He said the authority would look to see if migrant workers had secured some form of employment and somewhere to live.

"We have the housing control law, which controls any occupation, and there are penalties, even to the landlord, of a �2,000 fine and/or imprisonment for breaking them," he said.