Who must comply?
All private landlords in England (and their agents) must check that every adult occupier has a legal right to rent in the UK before the tenancy starts. There are separate rules for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Step 1: Obtain acceptable documents or an online check
You can use List A (unlimited right) or List B (time-limited right) documents in person, or the Home Office online service where the tenant has a share code. Take a clear copy (physical or PDF) and note the date of the check.
Step 2: Check authenticity
Documents must be original (or verified digitally where allowed), belong to the person, and be valid. For in-person checks, you must see the person, use video protocols only where the scheme permits.
Step 3: Follow up on time-limited status
If the tenant has a time-limited right, you must repeat the check before their permission expires and retain evidence.
Penalties
Civil penalties: up to £10,000 per occupier for a first breach and up to £20,000 per occupier for a repeat breach (increased 13 February 2024; lodger arrangements £5,000 / £10,000). Criminal sanctions, unlimited fine and up to 5 years' imprisonment, apply for knowingly letting to someone without the right to rent. Always verify current penalty levels at GOV.UK.
Record-keeping
Keep copies and check dates for at least one year after the tenancy ends. Good records are your defence if challenged.
Right to Rent checks guide → · Track compliance per property →
Acceptable Right to Rent documents (2026 list)
The Home Office publishes the full list; below are the most common categories.
List A : Unlimited leave / British citizens:
List B : Time-limited leave (follow-up check required):
Online checks: Use the GOV.UK Landlord Checking Service for share codes, it gives you a date-stamped result to keep on file.
Key rule: Carry out a fresh check before the permission expires. LetCompliance sets an automatic follow-up reminder so the date never slips.
The eVisa shift: what changed, and why old guides are wrong
The biggest practical change is that physical immigration documents have largely gone. Anyone issued with an eVisa can only prove their right to rent through the Home Office online checking service, using a share code the tenant generates and gives you along with their date of birth. Biometric residence permits are no longer the route.
Two details matter. A share code is valid for 90 days, so get it close to the check rather than months ahead. And the online service is the only way to obtain a statutory excuse for an eVisa holder, so a photocopy of an old card is worth nothing.
If a guide still tells you to take a copy of a biometric residence permit, it was written before the transition and you should not rely on it.
Digital identity checks for British and Irish citizens
British and Irish citizens do not have an eVisa, so historically they had to hand over a passport in person. There is now a route through certified digital verification service providers, letting a tenant prove identity digitally using a broader set of documents and credentials.
Here is the part landlords get wrong. A British or Irish citizen can choose to present physical documents instead of using a digital provider, and that choice must not lead to less favourable treatment. You cannot refuse an applicant, delay them, or push them down the list because they declined the digital route.
What the check actually buys you: the statutory excuse
The point of doing a check correctly is not the paperwork. It is the statutory excuse, which is your defence if an occupier later turns out to have no right to rent.
You get it when the check was done in the prescribed way, before the tenancy started, on every adult occupier, with the evidence retained. You do not get it if the check was late, if you checked only the named tenant and not the other adults living there, or if you kept nothing.
That is why a rushed check on move-in day is worse than useless. The tenancy has begun, and the excuse has gone with it.
Check everyone the same way
Right to Rent is the compliance duty most likely to turn into a discrimination claim. The Home Office publishes a separate code of practice on avoiding unlawful discrimination precisely because the temptation is to check harder on people who seem foreign.
The rule is simple. Check every prospective adult occupier in the same way, at the same stage, whatever their name, accent or appearance. Record that you did. A consistent, documented process is both your immigration defence and your discrimination defence, and they are the same file.
See our guide on tenant screening and discrimination for how the Equality Act interacts with this.
A worked example
Nadia is letting a two-bed flat to a couple. One is a British citizen, the other holds an eVisa with leave to remain until March 2028.
She checks both. For the British applicant she sees the passport in person, takes a dated copy and notes that she saw the original. For the eVisa holder she asks for a share code, runs it through the Home Office online service, and saves the response with the date. Both checks happen before the tenancy agreement is signed.
She diarises March 2028 for a follow-up check, because that right is time-limited and the duty to recheck sits with her.
Total time, about fifteen minutes. What she has bought is a statutory excuse on both occupiers, plus a record showing identical treatment if either ever alleged she checked one of them harder than the other.
Follow-up checks, and what to do if something is wrong
Where an occupier has a time-limited right, you must repeat the check before it expires. Diarise the date, do not rely on memory, and keep the follow-up evidence alongside the original.
If a follow-up check shows the person no longer has the right to rent, you must report it to the Home Office. Reporting is what preserves your position. Quietly doing nothing is what creates criminal exposure. Take advice before taking any step on the tenancy itself, because possession is a separate legal question with its own ground.
2026 UK Landlord Compliance Cheat Sheet
Every Gas Safety, EICR, EPC, deposit and Right to Rent deadline on one printable A4 page. Updated for the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.
- Every UK statutory deadline by document type
- Maximum penalty per breach (HSE, MEES, RtR, deposit)
- What blocks a Section 8 / Form 6A possession claim
- Print-friendly A4 with checkboxes
Frequently asked questions
When must a landlord complete Right to Rent checks?
In England, you must check every adult who will live in the property before the tenancy starts. Keep copies and the date of check; for time-limited rights, schedule follow-up checks before leave expires.
What are the fines for Right to Rent mistakes?
Civil penalties can reach thousands of pounds per occupier, with higher amounts for repeat breaches. Criminal offences apply where someone knowingly lets to a person without the right to rent.
Do I have to check every adult living in the property?
Yes — every occupier aged 18 or over, not just the person named on the tenancy and not just the lead applicant. This is the most common way a check is incomplete: the landlord verifies the tenant and never sees the partner who moves in with them. If somebody joins the household later, check them before they move in.
How do I check someone who has an eVisa rather than a passport?
Through the Home Office online service, using a share code the person generates, which you verify against their date of birth. You cannot rely on a printed screenshot they bring you. Two practical points: send the share-code instructions with your application form, because an applicant unfamiliar with the process is a common half-day of delay; and do not treat applicants who are entitled to use physical documents less favourably, which would be discriminatory.
Do Right to Rent checks need to be repeated?
Only where the person has time-limited permission to be in the UK. In that case a follow-up check is required, and the practical failure is forgetting: the date arrives long after everyone has moved on. Diary it the day you do the first check. Where someone has an indefinite right, no repeat check is needed. Keep the evidence for the tenancy plus one year, then delete it — holding immigration documents longer than necessary is itself a data-protection breach.