Right to Rent checks ensure tenants have the legal right to rent in the UK. Landlords must verify a tenant’s right to rent before the tenancy begins. Tenants must demonstrate this with a form of ID that shows they can rent in the UK.
You should not discriminate when conducting right to rent checks. You should conduct right to rent checks on all adult prospective tenants, including British citizens.
IMPORTANT: Since 1 July 2021, EEA citizens and their family members are required to hold a valid immigration status in the UK, in the same way as other foreign nationals. They can no longer rely on an EEA passport or national identity card to prove their right to rent. Read more about Right to Rent checks.
Right to Rent checks can be carried out in two ways. It is up to the tenant which method they prefer to use.
In-person manual checks
This involves viewing a physical copy of the tenant’s Right to Rent documents and checking it with the tenant present. This should take no longer than a few minutes.
Online share code (non-UK citizens only)
The government have introduced an online service to make Right to Rent checks easier for landlords and tenants. Landlords can input the tenant’s date of birth and Right to Rent share code and instantly see whether their prospective tenant can rent in the UK. Tenants may prefer to show their documents in person and cannot be forced to use the online Right to Rent service.
This service is currently only available for tenants that do not have a UK passport, but is expected to be rolled out to UK citizens in due course.