In England a landlord must check that every adult who will live in the property as their only or main home has the right to rent, before the tenancy starts. Check original documents in person, use the Home Office online service with a share code, or use a registered digital provider. Keep copies for the tenancy plus one year.
Updated 15 October 2026 · Figures checked against legislation.gov.uk and GOV.UK on 15 October 2026 · Statutory penalties are maximums; councils and courts decide the amount.
A Right to Rent check is the landlord's confirmation, before a tenancy begins, that each adult who will occupy the property has a right to rent in the UK. The duty comes from section 22 of the Immigration Act 2014: a landlord "must not authorise an adult to occupy premises under a residential tenancy agreement" if that adult is disqualified by their immigration status. The scheme applies in England only.
Doing the check properly, and keeping the evidence, gives the landlord a "statutory excuse" against a civil penalty. Skipping it, or doing it late, leaves the landlord exposed.
Since 1 October 2026 the rules are set out in the Home Office code of practice (seventh edition) and the Landlord's guide to right to rent checks. The penalty tiers did not change; the digital route did.
The Home Office guide puts it plainly: "You must carry out a right to rent check on every adult who will occupy the property as their only or main home, regardless of their nationality." That means:
The code of practice allows three routes. Which one applies depends on what the occupier holds.
| Route | Who it is for | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Home Office online service (share code) | Anyone with an eVisa or other digital immigration status; most non-British, non-Irish occupiers | The occupier gets a share code (right to rent codes begin with "R"). The landlord enters it with the occupier's date of birth at gov.uk/view-right-to-rent, checks the photograph against the person and saves the result page. |
| Manual document check | British and Irish citizens with a passport or other List A document, and anyone holding acceptable physical documents | The landlord sees the original document, checks it with the occupier present, takes a clear copy and records the date. |
| Digital check through a registered RtR DVSP | Optional, for British and Irish citizens with a valid passport | A "right to rent digital verification service provider" scans the passport and matches a selfie. From 1 October 2026 the provider must be registered on the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) register; the code says this "is mandatory". |
List A and List B. List A "contains documents for a person with an unlimited right to rent", including British and Irish citizens, and needs no follow-up. List B "contains documents for a person with a time-limited right to rent", and a List B check must be repeated. The lists were not changed on 1 October 2026.
Every check must be completed before the tenancy agreement is entered into. For an occupier with a time-limited right to rent there is a second rule: the check "must be carried out no earlier than 28 calendar days before the date the tenancy agreement is entered into". The 28 days include Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays.
A time-limited check done five weeks before move-in is too early and must be repeated. A check on an unlimited right to rent has no such window; it simply has to be done before the tenancy starts.
An unlimited right to rent needs no follow-up. A time-limited check establishes an "eligibility period" under section 27 of the Immigration Act 2014, and a follow-up is needed before it ends if the person is still living there.
The eligibility period is the longest of:
In practice the follow-up falls at the later of 12 months after the last check or the expiry of the person's permission. If a follow-up shows the occupier no longer has the right to rent, the landlord must report it to the Home Office "as soon as reasonably practicable" and before the statutory excuse expires. Making the report keeps the excuse; the guide says the landlord is not required to end the tenancy to keep it.
The statutory excuse only exists if the landlord can produce the evidence. The guide lists:
Copies must be kept "for the duration of the tenancy and for at least one year after it ends", then securely destroyed.
There are two separate exposures. The figures are the highest the law allows; the Home Office decides the actual amount case by case.
Civil penalty. Section 23 of the Immigration Act 2014 sets a statutory maximum of £20,000 per breach, raised from £3,000 by SI 2024/81. Within that ceiling the code of practice sets four tiers, per occupier:
| Occupier type | First breach | Repeat breach (within 3 years) |
|---|---|---|
| Lodger in the landlord's own home | up to £5,000 | up to £10,000 |
| Occupier under a tenancy | up to £10,000 | up to £20,000 |
The penalty is per adult without a statutory excuse. A first penalty is reduced by 30% if paid within 21 days.
Criminal offence. Under section 33A, a landlord who lets to a disqualified adult and "knows or has reasonable cause to believe" the premises are occupied by that person commits an offence. On indictment the maximum under section 33C is "imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, to a fine or to both". The offence applies where the landlord knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, that a disqualified adult is living there.
The app records a check per adult occupier against the property, with the route, the date and the outcome. Where the right is time-limited it works out the follow-up date, shows the last compliant day and sends escalating reminders ahead of it. The free exposure check covers Right to Rent alongside every other landlord duty, with no account needed.
Government changes that bear on this duty. Where the status says in force the rule already applies; everything else is not yet law for private landlords. Dates are quoted as the government has published them, checked on 15 October 2026.
| Change | Status today | Published timing | Sensible preparation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Right to Rent digital checks must use a provider registered as a "RtR DVSP" on the government's digital verification register | in force | In force since 1 October 2026 (7th edition of the code of practice; SI 2026/700) | If you use an identity-checking app, confirm it appears on the register; the manual and share-code routes are unchanged. Source |
Yes. The duty applies to every adult who will occupy the property as their only or main home, regardless of nationality. A British passport is a List A document and gives an unlimited right to rent, so no follow-up is needed.
Enter the share code (it begins with R) and the occupier's date of birth at gov.uk/view-right-to-rent, check the photograph against the person, and keep a PDF or HTML copy of the result page with the date.
An unlimited right to rent does not expire. A time-limited check lasts for the longest of one year, the occupier's remaining immigration permission, or the remaining validity of the document used; a follow-up check is due before that period ends.
For an online share-code check, yes: the landlord compares the result photograph with the person by video call. A manual document check needs the original document and the person present; a digital check through a registered RtR DVSP is done remotely in the provider's app.
A civil penalty of up to £10,000 per occupier for a first breach and up to £20,000 for a repeat breach within three years (up to £5,000 and £10,000 for a lodger). These are the highest amounts under the Home Office code of practice; the statutory maximum is £20,000 per breach.
No. The Right to Rent scheme under the Immigration Act 2014 applies to residential tenancies in England only.
No. The digital route is optional. If a landlord does use one from 1 October 2026, the provider must be a right to rent digital verification service provider registered on the OfDIA register; otherwise the check gives no statutory excuse.
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