Elijah Grant
If you want to rent a property in England, you need to prove your right to rent to your landlord. This means that you need to show that you have a legal status to live in the UK. How you prove this depends on your nationality and immigration status. British or Irish citizens can prove their right to rent by showing their landlord their passport, passport card, or citizenship certificate. If you are a foreign national, you may have been issued with a biometric residence permit or card, which holds your biographical and biometric information and proves your immigration status. You can use this, or other documents, to prove your right to rent.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Who needs to perform the checks? | Landlords and letting agents |
| Who needs to be checked? | All tenants over the age of 18 |
| Where does it apply? | England |
| Who does it apply to? | Non-British or Irish citizens |
| What documents can be used as proof? | Passport, citizenship certificate, driving licence, biometric residence permit, Home Office right to rent check, Windrush Scheme documents, birth certificate, immigration document, eVisa |
| What happens if you fail the check? | Landlord must report to the Home Office, who may ask for proof of status |
| What happens if a landlord doesn't perform the check? | They may face imprisonment |
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What You'll Learn
Proving your right to rent
To prove your right to rent in England, you need to show that you have the right to live in the UK. How you prove this depends on your nationality and immigration status.
British or Irish citizens
If you are a British or Irish citizen, you can prove your right to rent by showing your landlord one of the following:
- A valid passport
- A passport card
- A citizenship certificate
If you do not have any of these documents, you may be able to use other documents to prove your right to rent.
Non-British or Irish citizens
If you are not a British or Irish citizen, you can usually get an online share code to prove your right to rent. Your landlord can use this code to check if you can rent and how long for. Alternatively, you can prove your right to rent with your original immigration documents, such as your passport or a visa. If you are a Commonwealth citizen, you may be able to get documents to show that you can rent in the UK through the Windrush Scheme.
If you have left Ukraine due to the war, you have the right to rent as long as you have Home Office permission to stay in the UK, such as a visa under the Ukraine Family Scheme or Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme. If you are seeking asylum, you do not usually have the right to rent, but you may be able to get housing through the asylum support system.
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Time-limited right to rent
In the UK, private landlords and agents are legally required to check the immigration status of tenants before a tenancy starts. This is known as a 'right to rent' check. The check must be carried out in a way that does not breach equality law, and landlords must conduct these checks in a fair, justifiable, and consistent manner, regardless of the tenant's nationality, immigration status, or whether they have time-limited permission to be in the UK.
If you are a British or Irish citizen, you can prove your right to rent in England by showing your landlord a passport, passport card, or citizenship certificate. If you do not have these documents, other forms of proof, such as a UK birth certificate and driving licence, may be used.
If you are not a British or Irish citizen, your landlord can request a Home Office right-to-rent check. This typically involves providing documents such as a passport, travel document, or immigration status document with a Home Office endorsement. The document should clearly state the holder's limited leave and the date that leave expires. If the individual provides this document, the landlord should make a copy and retain it with a record of the check date. Conducting this check correctly will establish a time-limited statutory excuse against liability for a civil penalty, and a repeat check must be carried out before this statutory excuse expires. This time-limited statutory excuse typically lasts for 12 months or until the expiry of the person's permission to be in the UK, whichever is later.
It is important to note that if you have a time-limited permission to be in the UK, your landlord must conduct another check either within a year or when your visa or leave expires, whichever is later. This follow-up check is mandatory, and failure to do so can result in legal consequences for the landlord.
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Right to rent checks
Who needs a right-to-rent check?
Landlords or letting agents must conduct right-to-rent checks on all prospective tenants over the age of 18, regardless of their nationality or citizenship status. British or Irish citizens can prove their right to rent by presenting their passport, passport card, or citizenship certificate. If you are a Commonwealth citizen, you may obtain documents through the Windrush Scheme to prove your right to rent.
Foreign nationals, including EU citizens, must provide digital proof of their immigration status. They can do this by filling out an online form and providing their landlord with a "share code," which allows landlords to check their residency status. Alternatively, they can use Identity Document Verification Technology (IDVT) or a certified Identity Service Provider (IDSP) to verify their identity.
If you fail the right-to-rent check, your landlord must inform the Home Office. They do not have to end your tenancy unless instructed to do so by the Home Office. However, if your landlord uses a Section 8 notice and the Home Office determines that someone in your home does not have the right to rent, they can take court action with a minimum of two weeks' notice.
As a landlord, you are legally required to conduct right-to-rent checks on all prospective tenants. If you fail to do so, you may face penalties, including potential imprisonment. If a tenant provides a document from List B, indicating a time-limited right to rent, you must conduct a follow-up check before their time-limited right expires. It is essential to retain copies of the relevant documents and check carefully for fraudulent ones.
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Biometric residence permits
To rent in the UK, you must prove your right to rent to your landlord. This is not required in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland. If you are a British or Irish citizen, you can prove this with a passport, passport card, or citizenship certificate. If you are not a British or Irish citizen, your landlord may ask for a Home Office right-to-rent check.
The UK Government has announced that BRPs will be phased out and that, as of January 1, 2025, they will no longer be in circulation. All physical cards will be replaced by electronic visa records (eVisas). Visa holders will be required to have a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) eVisa account to view their immigration status online. Updating a BRP to an eVisa does not affect an individual's immigration status or the conditions of their permission to stay and work in the UK. There is no cost for updating a BRP to an eVisa.
To create a UKVI account, BRP cardholders will need their date of birth, BRP, or passport (if they don't have a BRP), access to an email and phone number, and access to a smartphone. All BRP holders must keep their cards with them when travelling overseas until December 31, 2024, even if they have registered for eVisa with a UKVI account.
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Discrimination and template letters
If you have the right to live in the UK, you have the right to rent in England. However, landlords and letting agents must check the immigration status of all adults who will live in the property before the tenancy starts. This can be done through a Home Office right-to-rent check.
Right to rent checks must not break equality law, which means landlords and agents must not treat you differently or unfairly because of your disability, nationality, race, religion, sex, or sexuality. This also includes treating you differently because of your name, accent, language skills, or race without checking. For example, landlords and agents must not decide they won't rent to someone because they assume they are not British based on their name, accent, or language skills.
If you believe you have been discriminated against, you can report and complain about how you've been treated. It can be hard to prove discrimination, so it is important to keep all your evidence in a folder or file on a computer. You can also report a rogue landlord or agent on the London Assembly website if you are in London, or contact the private rented housing team at your local council if you are outside of London.
> I wish to make a formal complaint about how I was treated on [date of conversation or email]. I spoke to a staff member [add their name if you know it] about viewing or renting [address of property]. I was told [say what you were told]. I believe that you treated me unfairly because [say why]. Landlords and agents must not discriminate by race, ethnicity, colour, nationality, or religion. I would like to provide documents or a share code that shows I have the right to rent. I would also like an apology. If I do not hear from you or I'm not happy with your final response, I will take my complaint to a redress scheme.
You can also find letter templates to complain about right-to-rent discrimination on the Shelter England website.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, if you want to rent a home in England, you need to prove your right to rent to your landlord. However, you do not need to prove your right to rent in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland.
If you are a UK national, you can prove your right to rent with a valid passport, driving licence, or birth certificate. If you are a foreign national, you may have been issued with a biometric residence permit or card, which holds your biographical and biometric information and proves your immigration status. You can use this, or other digital proof of your immigration status, to fill out an online form and get a share code to prove your right to rent.
If you do not have a passport, you may be able to use other documents to prove your right to rent, such as a driving licence or birth certificate. If you are a foreign national without digital proof of your immigration status, your landlord can perform manual checks using the correct documents.
If you fail a pre-tenancy check, your landlord must inform the Home Office. They do not have to end your tenancy unless they are told to do so by the Home Office. However, if everyone in your home does not have the right to rent, your landlord can evict you without a court order.
Landlords are legally required to carry out right to rent checks and can face significant fines or even imprisonment for failure to do so.
