What’s changing with Right to Rent?

As it stands, all prospective tenants must have a lawful immigration status in the UK before entering into a tenancy agreement in England. Right to Rent checks are required to determine the immigration status of all prospective adults tenants before the start of a tenancy. As a landlord, you could face a civil penalty if you have not carried out the correct right to rent check, and rent your property to someone who does not have the right to rent.

From 6^th April 2022, landlords and lettings agents won’t be able to carry out a manual Right to Rent check. Instead they’ll need to use the online Right to Rent checking service. An online right to rent check is required for all Biometric Residence Card (BRC), Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) and Frontier Worker Permit (FWP) holders, as well as individuals who only hold digital proof of their immigration status in the UK. Landlords and lettings agents will no longer be able to accept or check a physical BRC, BRP or FWP as valid proof of right to rent, even if it shows a later expiry date. 

To complete the online right to rent check, landlords will enter the prospective (or renewing) tenant’s details on the ‘checker’ side of the service on GOV.UK. Updated guidance on how to conduct a right to rent check on BRC, BRP and FWP holders from 6 April 2022 will be published by them shortly.

If you’re looking to let a property through us, we’ll handle all this for you. Find out more about our lettings service.