UK Right to Rent Checks: Tenant and Landlord Guide

The Right to Rent Scheme is an immigration check for certain private residential tenancies in England. Before a covered tenancy begins, the landlord must check every adult who will occupy the home as their only or main home, regardless of nationality. A tenant's share code, the landlord's check and the result are specific to renting; a right-to-work code or a general immigration-status page is not a substitute.

The process is especially relevant when a tenant has an eVisa, time-limited permission, an outstanding Home Office case, or physical immigration documents. The Home Office's current landlord guidance and discrimination code took effect on 1 October 2026. GOV.UK also flags changes to private tenancies from 1 May 2026, so check the current tenancy agreement rules as well as the immigration check instructions.

What is being checked?

Right to rent is permission to occupy certain private residential accommodation in England under the Immigration Act 2014 scheme. It is separate from permission to work, immigration status in the abstract, a visa application, and a tenancy decision. A landlord uses one of the Home Office's prescribed checks to establish a statutory excuse against a civil penalty if an occupier is later found not to have the right to rent.

This guide is about that check. It does not decide whether a tenancy is otherwise suitable, whether an applicant meets a landlord's lawful affordability criteria, or whether a person has permission to stay in the UK. It also does not set the rules for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland; the Home Office says the scheme is England-only.

The right-to-rent service and the right-to-work service are not interchangeable. An employer must use the employment check for work, while a landlord must use the check for renting. The UK eVisa and share-code guide explains UKVI accounts and purpose-specific status-sharing at a general level. This page covers the rental check itself. The UK employer right-to-work guide covers the separate employment process.

Who needs a check and when?

The Home Office says landlords and agents must check every adult (18 or older) who will use the property as their only or main home under a covered residential tenancy. This includes an adult who is not named on a written agreement, and can include a lodger, subtenant or adult occupier under an oral or implied arrangement. The check is not limited to people the landlord believes are foreign nationals.

GOV.UK lists excluded accommodation and arrangements, including social housing, local-authority-provided accommodation, hospitals, hospices and care homes, hostels and refuges, mobile homes, tied accommodation and student accommodation. Long leases of seven years or more are also listed as outside the scheme. The detailed landlord guide explains boundaries and exceptions; do not assume an arrangement is exempt from the label used in an advert or the identity of the provider.

The check must happen before the tenancy agreement is entered into and before occupation begins. For a person with time-limited permission, the detailed Home Office guide says the check must be made no earlier than 28 calendar days before the tenancy agreement is entered into. The public “who to check” page describes this as within 28 days before the tenancy starts. Where the signing date and move-in date differ, read the live landlord guidance and preserve the correct date; the detailed code may matter for the exact arrangement.

If a tenancy is varied, assigned or replaced with a new agreement that adds an adult occupier, the Home Office guide says a new check may be needed for the incoming adult. It also says the obligation can apply where there is no written contract. Keep a dated record of who will occupy the home and the agreement start or entry date, and verify any unusual arrangement against the full code.

How a tenant can prove a right to rent

GOV.UK says the proof route depends on nationality and immigration records. British and Irish citizens can usually show a current or expired British passport, Irish passport or passport card, or a British citizenship certificate. Other acceptable documents may be available in the cases listed by the Home Office. British and Irish citizens cannot generate a share code for this check, so the landlord must use the appropriate document or registered digital verification route.

For people who are not British or Irish citizens, GOV.UK describes an online right-to-rent share code or original immigration documents as routes. A person with an eVisa will usually need to generate the code for the right-to-rent purpose. A tenant who can prove their right to rent with accepted original documents cannot be forced to use the online service instead. The landlord should offer a prescribed method that the tenant can access.

The tenant-facing GOV.UK service has a specific “prove your right to rent in England” choice. A code for right to rent starts with R and is nine characters under the current landlord guide. The guide says codes starting with W or S are for other services. Do not give a right-to-work code to a landlord or an employment code to an employer for a rental check. If a code has expired, was generated for another task or does not open the right record, generate a new code using the correct option.

An online profile is not the final landlord check. The landlord or agent must open the Home Office's separate right-to-rent checking service directly with the share code and date of birth, then confirm that the profile and photograph match the prospective occupier and that the service confirms the right to rent. A screenshot or printout shown by the tenant is not a substitute for the landlord's own online check.

The three prescribed checking routes

The Home Office guidance describes three routes: a manual document check, the Home Office online right-to-rent check, and a check using a registered right-to-rent Digital Verification Service Provider (RtR DVSP). A DVSP is optional; the landlord remains responsible for completing the prescribed steps. If a landlord chooses the digital provider route, the current guidance requires a provider registered for right-to-rent checks with the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA).

Do not build your own document list from examples in this guide. The detailed Home Office annexes specify acceptable combinations and evidence, and they can change. For a manual check, the landlord must inspect the original evidence allowed under the current guidance, confirm identity and permission, and record the check date. Some cases require more than one document or an explanation for different names or dates of birth.

What the landlord should do for an online check

The Home Office's online route has three practical steps:

1. Use the official service. Enter the tenant's right-to-rent share code and date of birth into the landlord's Home Office check, not a general status page or right-to-work checker.
2. Match the person and result. Check the photograph belongs to the person who will occupy the property. Read whether the result confirms a continuous or time-limited right to rent and note any date the service gives for a repeat check.
3. Save evidence securely. Download or print the Home Office profile result, which includes the photograph and check date. Record when the check was made and retain the evidence for the tenancy and at least one year after it ends, then securely destroy it under the guidance.

For online checks, the tenant may provide the code directly or send it through the official service. The landlord must still access the landlord-facing result. A letting agent can carry out checks, but the landlord should establish in writing who is responsible for the initial check and any follow-up checks. The Home Office code explains when responsibility can transfer to an appointed agent.

The person named in the online result must be the adult who will occupy the home. If the photograph does not match, the landlord must not rely on that result to authorise occupation. If an eVisa is visible but the personal details or status are wrong, the tenant should use the relevant UKVI error route; a landlord check does not correct an eVisa.

If the tenant cannot produce a code or document

The tenant may be unable to access an eVisa, may not have the required original document, or may have an outstanding Home Office application, review or appeal. In these cases the landlord should follow the Home Office instructions for the Landlord Checking Service (LCS) where it applies. GOV.UK says the landlord needs the tenant's Home Office reference number and that the service can verify cases such as documents held by the Home Office, outstanding cases or appeals, or permission to rent. It says a reply is normally provided within two working days.

An LCS request is not a substitute for every failed online attempt. The current landlord guide says technical access problems and specific status cases may qualify, while an eVisa that is visible but contains incorrect information should be corrected through the eVisa error-reporting route. The landlord should follow the applicable service instructions and keep the Home Office response; a tenant's portal screenshot, email acknowledgement or pending application notice is not by itself the landlord's prescribed check.

The Home Office guidance includes circumstances in which a person may retain a right to rent while an in-time extension application and related review or appeal are outstanding. If that situation applies, use the LCS or the relevant accepted evidence rather than assuming that an expired card proves the person cannot rent. The Home Office decides what the check confirms.

If the Home Office result says the person has no right to rent, the landlord should not authorise occupation on the basis of that failed check. A prospective tenant who believes their records are wrong should use the official route to fix or verify them, and may wish to obtain qualified immigration advice. This guide does not decide the tenant's status or any challenge.

Repeat checks and record-keeping

Some tenants have a continuous right to rent and do not need a follow-up check during that tenancy. Others have a time-limited right. The online result may give the date by which the landlord must make a follow-up check; use that date and the current Home Office guide, rather than calculating from the visa label or relying on a reminder from the tenant.

The follow-up check must be completed before the landlord's statutory excuse expires if the tenant remains in the home. The Home Office public follow-up page gives a date based on the later of the permission end date or 12 months after the previous check, and the detailed guide says the online service will specify when a follow-up is required. Because the statutory excuse date and the tenant's permission expiry can differ, record both the service's date and the result of each check.

If a follow-up indicates that an existing occupier no longer has the right to rent, the current guidance requires a report to the Home Office as soon as reasonably practicable and before the existing time-limited excuse expires. A prescribed report can maintain an excuse only where a valid initial check was completed before occupation began. Do not treat an initial missed check as something that can be fixed by filing a report later.

Store the initial and follow-up evidence securely for the tenancy and at least one year after it ends, then destroy it securely as directed. Limit access to people who need it, follow data-protection requirements, and keep the date and result clear. The landlord guide sets out what evidence to keep for each route, including the provider output if an eligible DVSP was used.

Fair and consistent treatment

Landlords must not select people for checks because of their name, appearance, accent, nationality, ethnicity or perceived immigration status. The Home Office's discrimination code in force from 1 October 2026 says to apply checks consistently to all prospective adult tenants. It also says not to treat someone less favourably because they have time-limited permission or choose an accepted document-based route instead of an online service.

A landlord can tell every applicant that right-to-rent checks apply and explain how to complete them. The landlord should give each person the available prescribed evidence routes, allow reasonable time to obtain a valid code or document, and use the LCS when the circumstances call for it. Do not advertise or act as if only British citizens will be considered, or refuse a valid document simply because another applicant used a share code.

The right-to-rent check is one part of the letting process. It must not be used as a proxy for creditworthiness, suitability, references or tenancy selection. If a tenant believes the process was discriminatory, they can keep relevant emails and application records and seek advice from an appropriate housing or equality support service. This guide is not a finding about any individual dispute.

A practical sequence

For tenants: confirm the property is in England and the check applies; identify which proof route you can use; if using an online route, choose the right-to-rent option and give the landlord the resulting code and date of birth; verify that the landlord is using the Home Office right-to-rent checker; keep copies of communications and raise an access or record problem promptly.

For landlords and agents: identify every adult who will occupy the property as a main home; confirm whether the arrangement is covered or exempt; carry out a permitted check at the required time for each adult; match the evidence to the person and the service result; save and date the prescribed record; record any follow-up date; and use the Home Office process if the tenant cannot provide usual evidence or a follow-up result changes.

For tenancy agreements affected by the Renters' Rights Act changes from 1 May 2026, also check the current housing guidance on when a tenancy is entered into, varied or replaced. The Home Office check rules and the wider tenancy rules answer related but different questions.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• GOV.UK: who landlords must check
• GOV.UK: how to check a tenant's right to rent
• Home Office: Landlord's guide to right to rent checks, 1 October 2026
• Home Office: avoiding unlawful discrimination, 1 October 2026
• GOV.UK: prove your right to rent in England
• GOV.UK: landlord online share-code checker
• GOV.UK: follow-up checks