Right to Rent checks — a step-by-step guide for landlords

What Right to Rent means

Right to Rent is a legal obligation that requires landlords in England to verify that prospective tenants have the immigration status to rent residential property. The scheme was introduced under the Immigration Act 2014 and applies to all new tenancies. If you let property in England — whether you are a landlord or a letting agent acting on behalf of a landlord — you must carry out these checks before the tenancy begins.

The obligation applies to every adult who will occupy the property as their only or main home. This includes the named tenants, their partners, and any other adults living in the property. It does not apply to lodgers in the landlord's own home where the landlord also lives, or to certain types of accommodation such as social housing, care homes, or hostels.

When to carry out the check

The check must be completed before the tenancy starts. You cannot allow someone to move in and carry out the check afterwards. In practice, most landlords and agents complete the check during the referencing stage, once the tenant has been provisionally accepted but before the tenancy agreement is signed and keys are handed over.

If a check reveals that a prospective tenant does not have the right to rent, you must not grant the tenancy. If you discover this after the tenancy has started — for example, because a time-limited right to rent has expired — you must report the situation to the Home Office.

Acceptable documents

The Home Office publishes two lists of acceptable documents. List A contains documents that prove an unlimited right to rent — such as a UK or Irish passport, a certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen, or a permanent residence card. A single document from List A is sufficient, and no follow-up check is needed.

List B contains documents that prove a time-limited right to rent — such as a current visa, a biometric residence permit with an expiry date, or a positive verification notice from the Home Office. If you accept documents from List B, you will need to carry out a follow-up check before the tenant's permission expires.

You must see the original documents — photocopies or scans sent by email are not acceptable for the initial check. You should check that the documents are genuine (not obviously tampered with), that the photographs match the person presenting them, and that the dates of birth are consistent across documents.

Using the online checking service

For tenants who hold a biometric residence permit, biometric residence card, or status under the EU Settlement Scheme, the Home Office online checking service is the required method of verification. The tenant generates a share code through their online immigration account and provides it to the landlord. The landlord enters the share code on the government website along with the tenant's date of birth to view their immigration status.

The online check produces a digital record of the verification, which counts as your statutory excuse. You should save or print this record and store it with your tenancy files. For tenants with status under the EU Settlement Scheme, the online service is the only way to verify their right to rent — physical documents such as old EU passports are no longer sufficient on their own.

Penalties for non-compliance

The civil penalty for renting to someone without the right to rent is up to one thousand pounds per occupant for a first offence and up to ten thousand pounds per occupant for a repeat offence. These penalties apply even if you did not know the tenant lacked the right to rent — the obligation is on you to check.

There is also a criminal offence of knowingly renting to someone without the right to rent, which can result in up to five years in prison. In practice, the criminal offence is reserved for the most serious cases, but the civil penalties are enforced regularly. The only defence is to demonstrate that you carried out the prescribed checks correctly and on time — this is known as a statutory excuse.

Repeat checks

If a tenant's right to rent is time-limited (List B documents), you must carry out a follow-up check shortly before their permission expires. The follow-up check should be done no later than the expiry date of their current permission. If the tenant's immigration status has been extended or they have made an in-time application to the Home Office, you can verify this through the online checking service and set a reminder for the next follow-up.

If the follow-up check shows that the tenant no longer has the right to rent, you must report this to the Home Office within 28 days. The Home Office will then advise on next steps, which may include issuing a notice requiring the tenant to leave.

Record keeping

For every Right to Rent check, you must keep a clear, legible copy of the documents you checked (or a record of the online check) along with the date the check was carried out. These records must be kept for the duration of the tenancy and for at least one year after the tenancy ends.

Good record keeping is your primary protection against penalties. If a compliance officer asks for evidence that you checked a tenant's right to rent, you need to produce the records quickly and completely. Storing these digitally — linked to each tenancy record in your property management system — is far more reliable than keeping paper copies in a filing cabinet. It also makes follow-up reminders automatic rather than manual, which is critical when managing more than a handful of properties.