What is Right to Rent Check?

Full Definition

The Right to Rent scheme requires landlords (or their letting agent, if instructed to carry out checks) in England to verify that every adult who will live in a rental property as their only or main home has the immigration status needed to lawfully rent, before entering into a tenancy agreement. The check must be carried out for all prospective tenants, not just those a landlord suspects may not have status, since selectively checking only tenants who "look foreign" is itself unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 -- guidance from the Home Office is explicit that checks must be applied consistently to every adult occupier. In practice, a landlord checks original identity documents (such as a passport or biometric residence permit) in the physical presence of the tenant, or uses the Home Office's online right to rent checking service for those with an eVisa or other digital immigration status, or uses an Identity Service Provider for British and Irish citizens holding a valid passport, and must keep a dated copy or record of the check for the duration of the tenancy plus one year afterwards. Most tenants have an unlimited right to rent and only need checking once at the start of the tenancy, while tenants with time-limited permission to be in the UK need a follow-up check before their permission expires, continuing for as long as they remain a tenant. Landlords who let a property to someone without the right to rent, without having carried out a compliant check, face a civil penalty of up to £20,000 per lodger or occupier (increased from lower historic levels) for a first breach, rising for repeat breaches, and in the most serious cases of knowingly letting to someone without the right to rent, a criminal offence carrying up to five years' imprisonment. Landlords using a letting agent can transfer responsibility for the check to the agent by written agreement, but the underlying legal duty and exposure to penalties otherwise sits with the landlord, which is why most letting agencies build a right to rent check into their standard referencing process for every let.

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