Right to Rent checks in 2026

Before a tenancy starts, landlords in England must check that every adult aged 18 or over who will live in the property as their main home has the right to rent (GOV.UK). You check either with the Home Office online service using a share code, by checking original documents in the person's presence, or through a registered digital verification service provider. If someone's permission to stay is time-limited, you must check them no earlier than 28 days before the tenancy starts and do a follow-up check later. Keep a copy of every check for the tenancy and one year after.

The rules come from Part 3, Chapter 1 of the Immigration Act 2014, and the Home Office publishes a code of practice for landlords. A new version of the code came into force on 1 October 2026. This guide covers how it works in a house let room by room, where new people move in often.

Who you must check

GOV.UK says you must check all tenants aged 18 and over before the start of a new tenancy, even if they're not named on the tenancy agreement, there's no tenancy agreement, or it isn't in writing (GOV.UK). In a shared house that includes:

• each tenant who rents a room;
• partners or adult family members who move in with them;
• adults who share a room; and
• people living in your own home as lodgers. GOV.UK's guidance covers checking that "a tenant or lodger" can legally rent, and the code of practice includes landlords who take in lodgers.

Check everyone the same way

GOV.UK is clear that it's against the law to only check people you think are not British citizens. Check every adult, every time, in the same way. The Home Office also publishes a separate code of practice on avoiding unlawful discrimination. A fixed routine protects you from both civil penalties and discrimination claims.

When you don't need to check

GOV.UK lists types of accommodation where you don't need to check, including social housing, care homes, hospices and hospitals, hostels and refuges, mobile homes, student accommodation, accommodation provided by a local authority, tied accommodation (provided with a job) and leases of seven years or longer (GOV.UK). The student exemption in the Act covers halls of residence and buildings owned or managed by a university or college, certain other bodies or a charity, or rooms a university nominates students to. An ordinary house let room by room to students or workers by a private landlord isn't exempt.

When to check

Do the check before the tenancy starts. For someone with time-limited permission to stay in the UK, the code of practice says the check must be done and recorded no earlier than 28 calendar days before the start of the tenancy (GOV.UK). If the start date moves back by weeks, check again.

Three ways to check

GOV.UK sets out the steps on its how to check page.

Online check with a share code

Many people now have digital immigration status, an eVisa, instead of physical documents. They generate a share code and give it to you, and you use the Home Office view a tenant's right to rent service with the code and their date of birth. British and Irish citizens can't get a share code.

1. Enter the share code and date of birth.
2. Check that the photo on the result is the person in front of you. The code of practice allows this in person or on a video call.
3. Save or print the result, and record the date.

If someone has an eVisa, the code of practice says they can only prove their right to rent through the online service, so you must use it; you can't ask for documents instead. The other way round, GOV.UK says that if someone can prove their right to rent with an accepted original document, you can't insist they use the online service.

Manual document check

For people who have acceptable documents, such as a British or Irish passport:

1. see the original documents, not scans or photocopies;
2. check they're genuine, unaltered and belong to the person, with the person present in person or on a live video link;
3. make a copy of each document that can't be changed afterwards, and record the date of the check (GOV.UK).

The code of practice lists the acceptable documents and combinations.

Digital verification service

You can use a digital verification service provider to check documents such as a British or Irish passport digitally. GOV.UK's how to check page says the provider must be registered and links to the register. Using one is optional, and providers may charge. The code of practice in force from 1 October 2026 sets out which documents a provider can check. You still need to keep the result.

Follow-up checks

If someone's permission to be in the UK is time-limited, you must do a follow-up check. GOV.UK says it's due just before the later of the end of their permission to stay, or 12 months after your previous check (GOV.UK). The code of practice adds the expiry of the document they used as a third date, and the follow-up is due before the latest of the three. No follow-up is needed if their permission has no time limit.

If a follow-up check shows the person no longer has the right to rent, you must report it to the Home Office using its landlord reporting service. GOV.UK says you could be fined or sent to prison for up to 5 years if your tenant fails a follow-up check and you don't report it (GOV.UK).

Copies to keep

Keep copies of the tenant's documents, or the online check result, for the time they're your tenant and for one year after (GOV.UK). Record the date of each check. Store them securely; they're personal data, so follow data protection law and delete them once you no longer need them.

Penalties

If you let to someone without the right to rent and haven't done a proper check, you can be given a civil penalty for each person. Under the code of practice in force from 1 October 2026, the maximum amounts are:

A repeat breach is one within three years of an earlier penalty. Check the current code of practice before relying on these figures. Separately, knowingly letting to someone without the right to rent, or having reasonable cause to believe they don't have it, can be a criminal offence under the Immigration Act 2014.

Agents, subletting and lodgers

If you use a letting agent, you can ask them to make the checks; GOV.UK says you should have this agreement in writing. The code of practice says that where an agent has accepted responsibility in writing, liability for penalties rests with the agent. If a tenant sublets without your knowledge, they're responsible for checking their sub-tenants (GOV.UK). In a house let room by room, make sure your tenancy agreement says whether tenants can bring anyone else in to live; see tenancy agreements for a room.

After the Renters' Rights Act

Tenancies in England changed on 1 May 2026, but the Right to Rent scheme still applies to the new assured periodic tenancies. The government's grounds for possession guidance includes a mandatory ground, ground 7B, for when the Home Office gives you notice that a tenant has no right to rent. You must give 2 weeks' notice before applying to court. You can't use it on your own judgement. See possession grounds after Section 21 and periodic tenancies.

A move-in routine for shared houses

In a house let by the room, people come and go all year. A short routine stops anyone slipping through:

1. When you accept an applicant, ask who will live in the room.
2. For each adult, ask for a share code or arrange to see original documents.
3. Do the check within the right window and save the result with the date.
4. If permission is time-limited, note the follow-up date in your own calendar.
5. When a partner or new sharer joins later, repeat the check before they move in.
6. A year after a tenant leaves, delete the copies you no longer need.

It also helps to ask about checks at the same point every time, for example when you send the tenancy agreement, so nobody is treated differently.

Common mistakes

• Checking only some applicants. GOV.UK says it's against the law to only check people you think are not British citizens (GOV.UK). Check every adult the same way.
• Checking too early. For someone with time-limited permission, the check has to fall within the 28 days before the tenancy starts. A check done when you first met them two months earlier won't do.
• Accepting a scan or a photo. For a manual check you need to see the original document with the person present, in person or on a live video link.
• Asking an eVisa holder for documents. If someone has an eVisa, use the online service with their share code.
• Forgetting the extra occupant. A partner who moves in later is an adult living there as their home, so they need checking too.
• Losing the evidence. A check you can't prove is little help. Save the copy or the online result with the date, somewhere you'll find it a year after the tenant leaves.
• Keeping copies for ever. Copies are personal data. Once the retention period has passed, delete them.

Worked example

Tom lets six rooms in a house in Leicester. In March he accepts three new tenancies:

• Aisha, a British citizen with a passport. Tom sees the original passport on a live video call with Aisha holding it, takes a copy, and records the date.
• Mateus, who has an eVisa. He sends Tom a share code. Tom checks it on the Home Office service with Mateus's date of birth, compares the photo on a video call, and saves the result. Mateus's permission is time-limited, so Tom makes sure the check is within 28 days of the tenancy starting and notes a follow-up check due before his permission ends, or 12 months after this check if that's later.
• Jun and Mei, a couple taking the large double room. Only Jun is named on the tenancy, but both are adults living there, so Tom checks both.

When Aisha leaves the following year, Tom keeps her copy for one more year and then deletes it.

How Rentap helps

Rentap doesn't carry out or store Right to Rent checks, and it doesn't remind you about follow-up checks. Do the check through GOV.UK or a provider and keep your own copy and follow-up dates. What Rentap does keep is each room's tenancy, its start date and the tenancy agreement (rent tracking), so you can see who has moved in and when, alongside rent, deposits and compliance reminders for the house.

For other terms used here, see the letting terms glossary.

Sources

• GOV.UK: Check your tenant's right to rent
• GOV.UK: How to check
• GOV.UK: Making copies of documents
• GOV.UK: Further checks
• GOV.UK: Agents and subletting
• GOV.UK: View a tenant's right to rent
• Home Office: Right to rent landlord's code of practice
• Home Office: Code of practice for landlords and their agents, 1 October 2026
• Immigration Act 2014, Part 3, Chapter 1
• Immigration Act 2014, Schedule 3 (excluded agreements)
• GOV.UK: Grounds for possession guidance

Last checked: 10 October 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice.