Verifying the Right to Rent Privately Rented Housing

The course provides an overview of UK immigration law and the potential impact of Brexit. It explains in detail the controls on the right to rent to ensure that you understand the process and prevent coercive measures from being taken. This guide advises landlords, leasing agents or homeowners on how to verify the right to rent privately rented housing. Please note that our landlord law policy has always been to refer you to the correct government guidance page, rather than providing specific guidance here. It is important to note that if you use a paid service, the legislation on tenant fees prohibits transferring this cost to applicants as a fee.

You should treat it as a business expense that's just a part of being an owner. Landlords and agents must verify the immigration status of all adults who will be living on the property before the tenancy begins. If your permit to stay in the UK has a time limit, the landlord must do another check within a year or when your visa ends, whichever is later. If some tenants of the shared housing have the right to rent, the landlord must go to court to obtain an eviction notice. Right to Rent requires leasing agents in England to verify that all tenants occupying their properties have legal status to live in the United Kingdom.

This guide explains what landlords and rental agents must do to comply with the right to rent plan. Otherwise, they must have a reference number from the Ministry of the Interior that allows you to verify your rights using the landlord verification service. In this situation, you can use the Home Office's landlord verification service to verify a person's right to live in the UK. It states that Commonwealth citizens who have lived in the United Kingdom permanently since before 1973 and who have not been outside the United Kingdom for long periods in the past 30 years have the right to live in the UK and rent property. If you have a limited-time rental right, for example, because you have previously settled under the EU settlement system or because you have been granted refugee status, the landlord will need to do a follow-up check.

To maintain a legal excuse, you must perform a follow-up check before the right to rent expires. If you are unable to provide accepted documents confirming your identity and right to live in the UK, you will not be able to rent property in England. However, even though these people have an automatic right to rent, all adult applicants must prove that they have this document. If you are a Commonwealth citizen and arrived in the United Kingdom before the end of 1988, the Homeowner Verification Service must notify the Windrush support team, who will contact you to confirm your circumstances and try to find out your situation. In some cases, your tenant may not have all the necessary documentation despite having the right to rent. The requirement that landlords repeatedly check occupants only applies when they know that they have a limited-time rental right.

As a landlord, you must verify that any tenant or tenant over 18 can legally rent their property. Once the tenant has submitted their documents, you must check if they have the right to rent. Certified Identity Service Providers (IDSP) are third-party providers that comply with a government standard to digitally verify the right to rent for British and Irish citizens who hold valid passports (including Irish passport cards).