Are you a home owner renting out? Check if your tenant or lodger can legally rent your home or face fine

By A Staff Reporter

LONDON Nov 21: The Home Office has issued an update to the Right to Rent guide for landlords and letting agents.

The sixth version, updated last week, gives guidance to landlords on how to avoid discrimination when conducting checks.

The guide states: “It is unlawful to discriminate against individuals on grounds of protected characteristics, including race, when entering into residential tenancy agreements.

Check if someone can rent your residential property

“Landlords should apply checks to all occupiers, whether or not they may already believe the occupiers to be legally in the UK.”

Click to View details of Right to Rent Scheme for landlords and their agents: Updated on 15 Nov 2023

What is checked in a right to rent check?

The Right to Rent check shows that a tenant or lodger has the right to rent a property in England. Basically (in the eyes of the law) people who are allowed to be in the country have a right to rent, and anyone without permission to be here doesn’t have a right to rent.

Landlord’s guide to right to rent checks

Agents and Subletting

You must check that a tenant or lodger can legally rent your residential property in England. You can ask any agents that manage or let your property to carry out the check for you. You should have this agreement in writing.

If a tenant sub-lets the property without you knowing, they’re responsible for carrying out checks on any sub-tenants. They will be liable for any civil penalties if they do not do the check correctly.

Request a Home Office right to rent check

Follow-up checks

You must do a follow-up check to make sure your tenant can still rent property in the UK if there’s a time limit on their permission to stay.

You can get a fine if you do not do a follow-up check and your tenant’s permission to stay ends.

Do the follow-up check just before the date that’s the later of:

the end of your tenant’s permission to stay in the UK
12 months after your previous check
You do not have to do a follow-up check if there’s no time limit on your tenant’s permission to stay in the UK.

You might get a fine (‘civil penalty’) if you rent your property to someone who does not have the right to rent.