Right to Rent Guidance Notes for Residential Landlord

The Immigration Act 2014 places a duty on a Landlord (or Tenant taking in a lodger), to carry out a “Right to Rent” check before letting a property. These checks must be undertaken on every occupier aged 18 or over to ensure they are legally entitled to rent property in the UK before they move into the property. 

The ‘Landlord’s Guide to Right to Rent Checks’ was first published in November 2020. The November 2020 version introduced the online checking service and updated the lists of acceptable documents. 

On 6 April 2022, changes came into force regarding the use of biometric cards. 

The February 2023 version provided clarification for landlords on the use of Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT) and Identity Service Providers (IDSPs) to support manual document-based and Home Office online checking service right to rent checks. 

On 9 August 2023, changes were made to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) to tackle spurious applications and prevent abuse of the EUSS Certificate of Application (CoA).

This guidance was last updated on 8 February 2024 and the most significant update is in relation to the level of fines issued for non-compliance of the right to rent checks. You can obtain information on the level of fine directly from the government website. 

If you conduct the checks as set out in this guidance and the code of practice, you will have a statutory excuse against liability for a penalty in the event you are found to have rented to a person who is disqualified by reason of their immigration status.

This Guidance Notes deals with the following:

• The code of practice 
• What is required from landlords
• Transferring liability
• categories of Right to Rent ( Unlimited and Time-limited)
• How to perform a right to rent check and how to establish a statutory excuse 
• How to maintain a statutory excuse 
• Appealing a civil penalty

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