All landlords should be aware by now of the new ‘Right to Rent’ scheme introduced by the government on February 1st. It means every landlord must check all of their new tenants have the legal right to rent property in the UK, with the threat of a £3,000 fine for any landlords discovered letting their properties to persons without the legal right to rent in the UK.
To receive the fine, a landlord would have to fail to prove they carried out the proper checks on the tenant who was discovered to not have a legal right to rent. But what exactly are the proper checks that must be carried out? We’ll take you through the basics below.
Who Does or Doesn’t Have the Right to Rent
First you need to know who exactly has the right to rent and who doesn’t. Those with the right to rent fall into two categories: ‘unlimited right to rent’ or ‘time-limited right to rent’. The first group covers British citizens and European Economic Area (EEA) nationals. It also covers anyone who has the right to abode in the UK or have been granted indefinite leave to reside here.
The second group with a time-limited right to rent includes anyone not part of the above categories who have been granted permission to abide in the UK via Acts of Parliament, Immigration Regulations or EU Treaties. They will have a valid right to reside in the UK for a limited amount of time.
Those who don’t have the right to rent will be anyone who doesn’t have any kind of permission, time-limited or otherwise, to reside in the UK.
How to Check Your Tenants’ Right to Rent
First you will need to confirm that your tenants intend to use the property as their main residence. After that (and within 28 days of your tenants moving in), you need to examine their original identification documents as well as any original documentation that confirms their right to rent in the UK. A British citizen can obviously prove themselves with a British passport, but a non-British time-limited tenant will need to produce a residence card or visa to prove their immigration status. If you have a tenant who is currently undergoing an immigration application or appeal, then the Home Office will run the right to rent check for you, free of charge.
You can read more details about the exact documentation you need to check and even print off a checklist via this government-issued PDF on Right-to-Rent Guidance. Also keep in mind that you will need to check all relevant documentation in the presence of the tenant.
Once you have made the checks, you must make copies of the relevant documentation and keep the copies for twelve months after the tenancy comes to an end. If your tenant is time-limited, then you will need to conduct follow-up checks either every twelve months or before their permission to reside in the UK expires.
