Right to rent check
A right to rent check is the legal check you as a landlord or letting agent, must carry out in England to confirm that every adult who is 18 years old or more, will live in your rented property has the legal right to rent there. It’s an immigration compliance step, separate from referencing, and it should be completed before move-in and before the tenancy agreement starts.
How you do the check depends on the person’s status:
British or Irish citizens usually prove their right to rent by showing an eligible passport (current or expired) or other accepted documents. They typically cannot use the Home Office share code service.
Non-British / non-Irish citizens can often provide a Home Office share code and date of birth, which you use to view their status online and keep evidence of the result. They can also use certain original immigration documents instead of a share code.
From a landlord’s perspective, the “win condition” is creating a compliant audit trail. Record who you checked, what you saw, the date you checked it, and retain copies/screenshots in case you ever need to evidence a statutory excuse. Treat this like written notice admin. Be systematic, do it in a repeatable manner, and keep documents clearly filed so they can be retrieve easily.
Be consistent across applicants. Discriminating, even unintentionally, by only checking “foreign-sounding” names creates legal risk. Right to rent checks must be done for all adult occupiers, even if they are not named on the tenancy, and your broader marketing and letting decisions must still comply with anti-discrimination rules. (Note: the Renters’ Rights Act strengthens protections around refusing applicants with children or on benefits (DSS), but it does not remove right to rent duties.)
Finally, don’t confuse right to rent with affordability. It’s separate from rent checks, rent arrears risk, and portfolio landlord criteria. Do it once, do it properly, and store the proof, because it’s one of the fastest ways for an otherwise smooth tenancy to turn into a serious compliance problem.
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