Right to Rent Checks: Landlord UK Guide

UK landlords must check every adult tenant's right to rent before the tenancy starts. This applies to all private residential tenancies in England. The penalty for failing to check can reach £3,000 per occupant in a civil penalty, or criminal prosecution with an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison for repeat or knowing breaches.

Who Needs a Right to Rent Check

You must check every adult (18 or over) who will occupy the property under the tenancy agreement. This includes:

• All named tenants on the contract
• Any other adults living at the property as their only or main home
• Joint tenants and guarantors are usually checked, though guarantors who do not live at the property are not legally required to have checks

\p>You do not need to check children under 18, lodgers in your own home where you live as a resident landlord, or people in social housing provided by a local authority or housing association. The checks apply to England only — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not have right to rent requirements.

If you use a letting agent, confirm in writing who is responsible for the checks. Many agents include this in their full management service, but if you are on a tenant-find-only package, you may need to do the check yourself. Either way, as the landlord you remain legally liable if the check is not done properly.

When to Do the Check

The check must happen before the tenancy begins — ideally after you have accepted an offer but before the tenant moves in or pays any rent. You can do it during the referencing stage. If you collect rent or allow someone to occupy the property without a compliant check, you are at risk of a penalty even if you intended to do the check later.

The Home Office accepts checks done up to 28 days before the tenancy starts. If the tenancy start date is delayed beyond that window, you must repeat the check. You cannot rely on a check done by a previous landlord, even if the tenant moved out last week.

Some landlords do an initial soft check at viewing stage to avoid wasting time on applicants who cannot provide documents, but this does not replace the formal check. The formal check must be done within the 28-day window and recorded properly.

How to Check Documents

The tenant must present original documents in person (or via the Home Office online checking service for some statuses). You must see the originals in the presence of the tenant — posted photos or scanned copies alone do not provide a statutory excuse. The documents must be genuine, belong to the person, and show they have the right to rent in the UK.

Acceptable documents fall into two lists. List A documents prove unlimited right to rent (no follow-up check needed). List B documents prove time-limited permission (you must do a follow-up check before the permission expires). Common List A documents include:

• A British or Irish passport (current or expired)
• A passport showing the holder is a British citizen or has right of abode in the UK
• A document issued by the Home Office showing indefinite leave to remain or no time limit on stay
• A biometric residence permit showing indefinite leave

Common List B documents include:

• A current passport with valid leave to remain stamped or endorsed in it
• A biometric residence permit showing limited leave to remain
• A certificate of application or Home Office letter confirming outstanding application, appeal, or administrative review (valid for six months from issue date)
• A positive verification notice from the Home Office Employer Checking Service confirming the person has permission to rent

The full lists are on GOV.UK and updated occasionally — check the current version at GOV.UK right to rent document list before you accept documents you have not seen before.

For most tenants with a biometric residence permit or status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you must use the Home Office online checking service at gov.uk/view-right-to-rent. The tenant generates a share code and you enter it along with their date of birth to see their immigration status. Print or save the response — this is your evidence. The online check replaced physical documents for EU citizens and many visa holders after Brexit.

Recording the Check

You must keep a copy of every document you check (or a printed copy of the online check result). The copy must be clear enough to read and show:

• The document type and any reference numbers
• The tenant's photograph, name, and date of birth
• The expiry date or endorsement proving their right to rent

Record the date you checked the documents and sign or initial your records. Store copies securely for at least 12 months after the tenancy ends. This is your statutory excuse — if the Home Office challenges you, these records prove you did the check correctly. Without them, you have no defence even if the tenant did have the right to rent.

If you checked a passport, copy the front cover, the page with the photograph and personal details, and any pages with UK immigration endorsements or stamps. For a biometric residence permit, copy both sides. For an online check, print the entire response page including the date and share code used.

Do not keep the copies longer than necessary after the tenancy ends and the 12-month retention period has passed. Under data protection rules, you must dispose of personal documents securely when you no longer need them for a legal purpose.

Follow-Up Checks for Time-Limited Permission

If a tenant's document shows time-limited permission to be in the UK (a List B document), you must do a follow-up check before their permission expires. This applies even if the tenancy is ongoing. Check the expiry date when you do the initial check and set a diary reminder at least two weeks before it expires.

Ask the tenant to show updated documents proving their permission has been extended or that they now have indefinite leave. If they have applied to extend their stay and received a certificate of application or acknowledgement from the Home Office, this usually gives them permission to remain while the application is decided. Check the certificate carefully — it will state how long it is valid (usually six months).

If the tenant cannot show any valid permission at the follow-up check, you must report them to the Home Office within 28 days. The reporting process is online at GOV.UK. You do not have to evict them immediately, but you must not grant a new tenancy or accept a new occupant without a right to rent. You may also want to serve notice to end the tenancy under the terms of your agreement — see Section 21: What Is Changing for Landlords? for how notice rules are evolving.

The Home Office may contact you after you report a tenant. Cooperate with any requests for information or access to the property — obstructing immigration officers can itself be an offence. In practice, the Home Office prioritises cases involving exploitation or criminal activity, and most follow-up checks result in the tenant providing updated documents or leaving voluntarily at the end of their notice period.

Penalties for Getting It Wrong

The civil penalty for renting to someone without the right to rent is up to £3,000 per occupant. The Home Office issues a notice of liability and you have 28 days to object or pay a reduced amount. Repeat offences or cases where you knew the person had no right to rent can lead to criminal prosecution with an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison.

You avoid the penalty if you can show you did a compliant check and kept the correct records. This is called a statutory excuse. The excuse lasts for the period covered by the documents you checked — 12 months for List A documents, until the expiry date for List B documents. If you did not check at all, checked the wrong documents, or did not keep copies, you have no statutory excuse even if the tenant turns out to have had the right to rent all along.

The Home Office can also apply for a premises closure order, banning you from renting the property for up to three months if it finds serious or repeated breaches. This is rare but used in cases involving illegal subletting, overcrowding, or organised immigration abuse.

Since 2016, right to rent checks have faced legal challenges on discrimination grounds. Landlords are not allowed to treat people differently based on nationality or immigration status beyond what the law requires. Do not refuse to rent to someone just because they have a foreign passport or a time-limited visa if they have valid documents. Do not ask for extra checks or deposits from non-British applicants. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published guidance on avoiding discrimination while complying with right to rent — check their website if you are unsure.

Practical Tips for Landlords

Build the right to rent check into your referencing process so it happens automatically before you sign the tenancy. Many referencing companies include the check as part of their service, though you should confirm this and ensure they provide you with the documentary evidence to keep on file.

If a tenant cannot provide List A documents but has List B documents, decide whether you are comfortable doing follow-up checks. Some landlords prefer to avoid the administrative burden, especially for long tenancies. This is a commercial decision, not a legal requirement — you are allowed to set your own criteria as long as you do not discriminate.

For EU citizens and many visa holders, the online checking service is now the only accepted method. Make sure you are familiar with it before you rely on it. The tenant must be present (physically or by video) to confirm their identity and share the code. If the system shows an error or no status found, do not proceed — ask the tenant to contact the Home Office Resolution Centre to resolve the issue before they move in.

Store your right to rent records separately from tenancy files so you can find them quickly if the Home Office asks. Label the file with the tenant's name, the check date, and the expiry date if applicable. If you manage multiple properties, keep one folder per tenancy so nothing gets lost.

Right to rent is one of several checks landlords must do before a tenancy starts. For a full overview of your obligations at the start of a tenancy, see Landlord Legal Obligations: A UK Guide. If you are renting out an HMO, additional licensing checks may apply — see HMO Licensing: A UK Guide for Landlords.

Changes Under the Renters' Rights Act

The Renters' Rights Act will change how tenancies work in England, but it is not expected to change the right to rent scheme itself. The Act will replace fixed-term tenancies with rolling periodic tenancies and remove Section 21 no-fault evictions, but landlords will still need to check every tenant's immigration status before the tenancy starts.

The Act may make it harder to evict tenants who lose their right to rent during a tenancy, because you will no longer be able to use Section 21. You will need to rely on a mandatory ground for possession based on the tenant's immigration status, which exists under the Housing Act 1988 but is rarely used. This means follow-up checks will become even more important — if you discover a tenant has no permission to rent, you must report it to the Home Office and consider whether to serve notice using the immigration ground.

For more on how the Renters' Rights Act affects your existing processes, see The Renters' Rights Act: What Landlords Actually Need to Do.

What Happens if You Are Investigated

The Home Office carries out right to rent enforcement through immigration compliance teams. If they suspect you have rented to someone without the right to rent, they may visit the property unannounced or send you a letter requesting information. Cooperate fully and provide your check records immediately. If you have a statutory excuse, the investigation usually ends there.

If you do not have a statutory excuse, you will receive a notice of potential liability setting out the proposed penalty. You have 28 days to respond with any objections or representations. The Home Office will consider your response and issue a final decision. If they confirm the penalty, you must pay within 28 days or appeal to the county court.

Very few cases go to court. Most landlords either pay the penalty or successfully argue that they had a statutory excuse. The Home Office publishes anonymised case summaries showing the types of failures that lead to penalties — common issues include accepting photocopies instead of originals, failing to keep records, and not doing follow-up checks on time.

If you are prosecuted criminally, the case will be heard in the magistrates' court or Crown Court depending on severity. Criminal cases are reserved for landlords who knew or had reasonable cause to believe the tenant had no right to rent, or who repeatedly breach the rules. Sentences can include fines, community orders, or imprisonment. The Home Office must prove you knew or were reckless — a genuine mistake with no statutory excuse usually results in a civil penalty, not prosecution.

This is general information, not legal advice. Landlord law changes — check GOV.UK or a property solicitor for your situation.