Right to Rent Checks: A Step-by-Step Landlord Guide

Right to Rent checks are immigration checks landlords in England must carry out before a tenancy starts. You check every adult who will live in the property as their only or main home, using original documents, a Home Office share code or a registered digital provider, keep a dated record, and repeat checks for anyone with time-limited permission.

Updated 2 November 2026. Applies to England unless stated.

The Right to Rent scheme applies in England only. Landlords in Wales and Scotland do not carry out Right to Rent checks, although Wales and Scotland have their own tenancy regimes. Our planned guide to Wales and Scotland explains the differences.

The Home Office published a new Code of Practice and Landlord’s Guide that took effect on 1 October 2026. This guide reflects those changes, including the registered digital provider rules and the wider use of eVisas. Follow the steps in order and you will have a statutory excuse against a civil penalty.

What a Right to Rent check is, and why it matters

Under the Immigration Act 2014, a landlord must not let residential accommodation to an adult who does not have the right to rent in the UK. The check is how you prove you did not. If you complete the prescribed checks before the tenancy starts, carry out any follow-up checks and make any required reports, you have a statutory excuse. Without it, you can face a civil penalty for each adult occupier.

The scheme has applied to tenancies first entered into on or after 1 February 2016 across England (1 December 2014 in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall).

Who you must check

• Every adult aged 18 or over who will live in the property as their only or main home.
• Adults who are not named on the tenancy agreement, such as a partner or adult child.
• Every applicant, whatever their nationality. Check British citizens in exactly the same way as everyone else.

Children under 18 are not checked. A child who turns 18 during the tenancy is not checked at that point, but is included in any follow-up check that later falls due.

Lettings that are exempt

The Landlord’s Guide lists accommodation outside the scheme, including:

• social housing, and accommodation arranged by a council under its homelessness duties (keep the written confirmation)
• care homes, hospitals, hospices and continuing healthcare accommodation
• qualifying hostels and refuges
• student halls and nominated student accommodation
• long leases of seven years or more without a break clause
• mobile homes on protected sites where the occupier owns the home
• tied accommodation where no rent is payable
• genuine holiday lets, unless the stay becomes the occupier’s only or main home

How to carry out a Right to Rent check: step by step

1. List every adult occupier. Ask the applicant who will live in the property. Include anyone 18 or over, named on the agreement or not.
2. Choose your check method. You have three options: a manual check of original documents, the Home Office online check using a share code, or a check through a registered Right to Rent digital verification service provider (DVSP). Some people can only prove their status one way, so ask first.
3. Get the timing right. For someone with unlimited right to rent, you can check at any time before the tenancy is entered into. For someone with time-limited permission, the check must be no earlier than 28 days before the tenancy is entered into. Every check must be completed before the person moves in.
4. Carry out the check. Follow the method-specific rules below. Check that photographs match, dates of birth are consistent, documents are in date where required, and any name differences are explained with supporting evidence.
5. Use the Landlord Checking Service where it applies. If the person has an outstanding application or appeal, an asylum claim, Permission to Rent, or a problem accessing their eVisa, request a check from the Home Office Landlord Checking Service.
6. Record the check. Keep a clear copy of the documents or the online result page, and record the date you made the check.
7. Set the follow-up date. For anyone with time-limited permission, work out when the follow-up check is due and diarise it.
8. Retain and then destroy the records. Keep them for the length of the tenancy plus at least one year after it ends, then destroy them securely.

Our planned guide to how to check covers each method with examples.

Method 1: manual document check

You check original documents from the lists in Annex A of the Landlord’s Guide, in the presence of the holder, either in person or by live video call. Follow the Landlord’s Guide on handling originals before you sign off the check.

• List A documents show unlimited right to rent (for example, a British passport).
• List B documents show time-limited right to rent and trigger a follow-up check.
• From 1 October 2026, the lists include digital versions of documents that landlords can verify.

Two document changes catch landlords out. Biometric Residence Permits stopped being issued on 31 October 2024, and an expired BRP is not acceptable proof. Visa vignettes stopped being issued from 1 July 2026, and a short validity vignette can only be used while it is valid and the holder has not yet accessed their eVisa.

Method 2: online check with a share code

Many people now hold an eVisa rather than a physical document. Anyone who holds only an eVisa must prove their right to rent through the Home Office online service, so a manual check is not available to them.

1. Ask the applicant to generate a right to rent share code from the Home Office service.
2. Check the code: right to rent share codes are nine characters, start with “R” and are valid for 90 days.
3. Enter the share code and the applicant’s date of birth into the Home Office online checking service on GOV.UK.
4. Confirm the photograph matches the applicant, in person or by live video call.
5. Save or print the result page as your record.

You must view the result directly on the Home Office service. A screenshot or PDF sent by the applicant does not give you a statutory excuse. The planned share code guide covers common errors.

Method 3: registered digital verification provider

You can use a Right to Rent digital verification service provider, which may use facial recognition, to carry out the check. From 1 October 2026, the provider must be registered, and the expanded rules allow providers to verify some List A and B documents where the issuing authority supplies them digitally. Keep the provider’s output and any facial comparison with your record of the check.

Right to Rent follow-up checks

Follow-up checks apply only to occupiers with time-limited permission. If the first check showed unlimited right to rent, no follow-up is needed.

Under the 1 October 2026 guidance, the statutory excuse from the initial check lasts for the longest of:

• one year from the date of the check
• the end of the person’s immigration permission
• the expiry of the relevant document

You must complete a follow-up check before that period ends if the person still lives in the property. A Positive Right to Rent Notice from the Landlord Checking Service gives a 12-month statutory excuse, after which a further check is due.

If a follow-up check fails

If a follow-up check shows the person no longer has the right to rent, you must report it to the Home Office to keep your statutory excuse. The Home Office may then notify you that a tenant is disqualified, which opens Ground 7B of the Section 8 possession grounds with two weeks’ notice. See our Section 8 grounds pillar and the planned follow-up checks guide.

The Home Office Landlord Checking Service

Use the Landlord Checking Service when a person cannot show their status through documents or a share code, for example because of an outstanding application or appeal, or an eVisa access problem. The service aims to respond within two working days.

• A Positive Right to Rent Notice gives a statutory excuse for 12 months from the date stated.
• A Negative Right to Rent Notice means the person has no right to rent. Letting to them gives no statutory excuse.
• If the Home Office has not considered the request within two working days, an automatic response allows the tenancy to proceed with a 12-month excuse.

Right to Rent penalties

The civil penalty depends on whether the disqualified person is a lodger or an occupier, and whether you have had a penalty in the previous three years.

Penalties are per disqualified person. For a first breach, paying within 21 days under the Fast Payment Option reduces the penalty by 30%, to £3,500 for a lodger or £7,000 for an occupier. It cannot be paid in instalments.

Knowingly letting to someone without the right to rent, or having reasonable cause to believe they do not have it, can also be a criminal offence. Home Office material on the Immigration Act 2016 says landlords and agents can face up to five years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both. Our planned guide to Right to Rent penalties covers objections and appeals.

Using a letting agent

An agent can take on responsibility for Right to Rent checks, but only if they agree to it in writing. Liability for any civil penalty then rests with the agent. Your written agreement should say whether the agent carries out the initial checks, the follow-up checks or both, the timescales, and how you will communicate. Without that written agreement, the liability stays with you.

Right to Rent and the rest of the letting process

Right to Rent sits alongside several other steps that start before the tenancy:

• Holding deposits. Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, you can keep a holding deposit if the applicant fails a Right to Rent check, provided you give written reasons within 7 days. See our tenancy deposit protection guide and the planned Tenant Fees Act guide.
• Referencing. Credit and affordability checks are separate from Right to Rent. The planned tenant referencing guide covers both, including the Renters’ Rights Act ban on discriminating against families with children and benefit claimants.
• Move-in documents. Once checks are complete, you need the tenancy agreement, prescribed information for the deposit, and the safety certificates. See the planned move-in documents guide and our tenancy agreements pillar.

For the full pre-letting checklist, see the landlord compliance pillar and how to manage a rental property.

Common Right to Rent mistakes

• Checking only the lead tenant and missing other adults living in the property.
• Accepting a screenshot or emailed PDF of an online check instead of viewing it on the Home Office service.
• Accepting an expired BRP.
• Checking a time-limited occupier more than 28 days before the tenancy is entered into.
• Failing to record the date of the check.
• Missing the follow-up date, so the statutory excuse lapses without anyone noticing.
• Assuming an agent is responsible without a written agreement.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.