Right to rent

3 min read

This page provides information about your responsibilities as a landlord when it comes to checking a tenant’s right to rent, including what documents you need to check and how to carry out the necessary checks.

On this page:

• Document checks
• Tenants who cannot provide right to rent documentation
• Limited right to rent

Document checks

You must check the right to rent of all tenants over the age of 18 before the beginning of a new tenancy, even if they are not named on the tenancy agreement.

Instructions on how to carry out a right to rent document check are available on gov.uk. You must do this at the start of every new tenancy.

Please note: if your tenant is the one granting occupancy, this means if they taking in a lodger or sub-tenant, it will be the tenant who is required to carry out the checks themselves as they are that person’s landlord.  They will not have to do this if they have a guest who will not be using the property as their main home, as those occupiers are exempt from the checks.

Tenants who cannot provide right to rent documentation

If your tenant cannot provide their passport or original immigration document as proof of right to rent, you can use the landlord immigration checker. You will receive a response about the tenant’s right to rent in two working days.

Limited right to rent

If your tenant has limited right to rent, you must complete a second right to rent check 12 months after your initial check, or when their document expires (whichever comes first).

You should advise your tenant to talk to a specialist immigration advisor before their document expires or within the 12 month period after the first right to rent check.

If you have joint tenants and one of them loses the right to rent, all parties can surrender the joint tenancy and as a landlord you ca issue a new sole tenancy to the tenant who still has a valid right to rent.