Adjusted Right to Rent Checks To Continue Until April 2022

There have been many changes to the way we interact with others due to the Coronavirus pandemic which, mostly, has meant keeping a safe distance from others. This has had knock-on implications for aspects of organising rentals which would normally have required a face-to-face meeting. One of these aspects is the “Right to Rent checks” where a landlord is required to check that a prospective tenant is authorised to rent a home in this country. In this article, we give a brief overview of the Right to Rent checks and look at the changes that were introduced, which have now been extended.

What Are Right To Rent Checks?

Introduced UK wide on 1^st February 2016 as part of the Right To Rent Code of Practice: Scheme for landlords and their agents, Right to Rent checks are a legal requirement placed on private landlords or rental agents to check the immigration status of tenants, lodgers and any other adults who will be living at the property prior to a rental agreement commencing. Tenants, lodgers and other adults resident at the property must be able to provide documents to show that they have the right to live in the UK, either permanently or on a temporary basis. The Home Office has issued a comprehensive user guide for landlords and tenants when carrying out Right to Rent checks.

Prior to the changes introduced in March 2020, a landlord or agent must:

• Check which adults would be using the property as their main home
• Check that prospective tenants have original documents that prove they can live in the UK
• Have sight of the provided documents in person to see if the prospective tenant(s) have the right to rent the property
• Check that each tenant’s documents are genuine and do belong to them, with the tenant present at the time.
• Make and keep copies of the documents and subsequently record the date on which the check was made.

What Are The Changes That Have Been Introduced?

Carrying out these checks in person became problematic during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the need to have in person contact, which due to social distancing rules was not possible. The Government introduced some changes to the way checks should be conducted on 30th March 2020 in an attempt to minimise the need for face-to-face contact. The changes introduced were:

• A landlord or agent could ask any prospective adult occupier to provide a scanned copy or a photo of one or two of their original documents from lists A or B (see The Home Office User Guide). This can be done via email or mobile app.
• Arrange with the prospective occupier a video call during which they can hold up their documents to the camera so that a landlord or agent can check them against the digital copies of the document. Record the date of the video call check on the document and mark it as “adjusted check undertaken on [insert date] due to COVID-19”
• If the tenant has biometric documents and has authorisation to stay, landlords could use the Government’s online right to rent check facility. To use this the prospective tenant needs to register on the system and then pass the generated “share code” to the landlord along with their date of birth so the landlord could complete the check. Please note that if a tenant can supply accepted, original documents to establish their right to rent, a landlord cannot insist that the online service is used.
• The online service cannot be used in all cases as not all tenants have documents which are supported by the online checking system which is only suitable for biometric and digital documents. In these cases the landlord should request acceptable, original documents as detailed in the Government user guide. If a tenant does not have these then a landlord should seek further advice before agreeing to let the property.

Originally, this adjusted method of carrying out Right to Rent checks was due to end on 20^th June 2021 but was extended until 31^st August 2021 by Government in a move to give landlords and agents increased time to adjust to the changes and to cater for the ongoing pandemic complications. Following positive feedback regarding conducting checks remotely, an extension is now in place until 5^th April 2022

Right to Rent checks are a legal requirement for any landlord and these new rules around how the checks can be carried out make the process significantly easier and safer.

If you have any queries regarding the Right to Rent checks or any other aspect of landlord legislation you can contact one of our local property experts, we have offices throughout the region and a team of letting specialists ready to assist you.