Right to Rent Checklist for Lettings Agency

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 conducted for 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 penalties for non-compliance are:

• A civil penalty of £5,000 per lodger and £10,000 per occupied for a first breach;
• A civil penalty of £10,000 per lodger and £20.000 per occupier
• In the most serious cases a criminal conviction carrying a prison sentence. 

This Right to Rent Record Checklist for Lettings Agent can be used to assist an Agent in checking a new tenant’s “Right to Rent”. 

To avoid a civil penalty, Agents must establish what is termed a “statutory excuse under section 24 of the Immigration Act 2014. This statutory excuse protects Agents from penalties for renting to individuals who are disqualified from renting. To establish this excuse, Agents need to conduct checks on all adult occupiers.   These checks can be performed in one of three ways: 

• A manual right to rent check;
• a  right to rent check using IDVT via the services of an IDSP ( British and Irish citizens only), or
• a Home Office online right to rent check (non-British or Irish citizens).

The Record/Checklist takes into account the governments updated guidance as at the time of writing.  Reference should still be made to the governments guidance on their website. 

Once you have purchased access to the appropriate document folder click on the “Download Document” button below. You will be asked what you want to do with the file. It is recommended that you save the document to a location of your choice prior to viewing.

Right to Rent Checklist for Lettings Agency is part of Property Documents. Just £35.00 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Property Documents for 1 year.