Right to Rent Checks — What Landlords Must Do

Who must carry out checks?

All private landlords in England must carry out Right to Rent checks before granting a tenancy. This includes:

• Landlords letting the whole property
• Landlords letting individual rooms in an HMO
• Tenants sub-letting (the original tenant becomes responsible for checking their sub-tenant)

Letting agents can carry out checks on behalf of landlords, but the landlord remains ultimately responsible unless there is a written agreement that the agent has taken on the checking duty.

The Right to Rent scheme does not apply in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland.

How to carry out a Right to Rent check

There are two routes:

Option 1 — Manual document check

You check original documents in person (or via a video call for some cases). Acceptable documents are listed in List A and List B of the Home Office guidance:

• List A — documents that give an unlimited right to rent (e.g. UK or Irish passport, indefinite leave to remain, settled status). A single List A check is sufficient; no follow-up needed.
• List B — documents that give a time-limited right to rent (e.g. a visa with an expiry date, pre-settled status). A follow-up check is required before the document expires.

You must copy the document and record the date of the check. The copy must be kept for the duration of the tenancy plus one year.

Option 2 — Home Office online check

For tenants with a biometric residence permit, a biometric residence card, or a digital immigration status (including EU settled/pre-settled status), landlords must use the Home Office online right to rent checking service. Physical documents alone are insufficient for these individuals.

The tenant generates a share code via the UKVI service; the landlord uses the code plus the tenant's date of birth to complete the check online. The result must be saved.

Follow-up checks — the most common mistake

If a tenant's right to rent is time-limited (List B document), you must carry out a follow-up check before the expiry date. Missing a follow-up check removes the “statutory excuse” defence — meaning you are potentially liable even though the original check was done correctly.

Follow-up check timing:

• The date the document expires, or
• 12 months after the original check, whichever is later

Tenant City lets you record the document type and expiry for each tenant's Right to Rent check, so follow-up dates are visible in the tenancy record.

Civil penalties for non-compliance

Penalties are per illegal occupant, not per property. An HMO with multiple occupants without the right to rent multiplies the exposure accordingly.

What counts as a statutory excuse?

Carrying out the check correctly gives you a statutory excuse — a defence against a civil penalty even if the tenant later turns out to have no right to rent (e.g. they used a forged document). The statutory excuse only applies if:

• The check was carried out before the tenancy began (not after)
• The original documents were checked in person or via the online service as required
• Copies were taken and retained
• For time-limited documents: a follow-up check was carried out before the expiry

How Tenant City tracks Right to Rent

• Check date and document type recorded per tenant — logged against the tenancy record with notes on what was seen
• Expiry date for time-limited documents — enter the document expiry and the follow-up deadline is visible in the tenancy compliance view
• Compliance panel status — Right to Rent check status shown alongside Gas Safety, EPC, and other requirements so nothing is missed at onboarding