• March 24, 2023

Are you renting out your property ‘to student, carer’ or anyone? Do right to rent check or pay penalty

Are you renting out your property ‘to student, carer’ or anyone? Do right to rent check or pay penalty

By A Staff Reporter

LONDON March 24: UK government has issued an updated Landlord’s Guide to right to rent checks on 23rd March 2023. This guidance advises a landlord, letting agent or homeowner how to conduct a right to rent check when letting privately rented accommodation. This update replaces previous guidance issued on 6 April 2022.

This guidance explains what landlords and letting agents must do to comply with the Right to Rent Scheme.

Landlords and letting agents must carry out right to rent checks on people before entering into a tenancy agreement with them to make sure they are allowed to rent.

Penalties for illegal renting
You could be sent to prison for 5 years or get an unlimited fine for renting property in England to someone who you knew or had ‘reasonable cause to believe’ did not have the right to rent in the UK.

This includes if you had any reason to believe that:

they did not have leave (permission) to enter or stay in the UK
their leave had expired
their papers were incorrect or false
You can also be fined if both of the following apply:

you rent your property to someone who is not allowed to stay in the UK
you cannot show that you checked their right to rent

Click to Read More About Penalties for Illegal Renting

Click to Check if someone can rent your residential property

Check a tenant’s right to rent in England: use their share code

If a tenant does not have the right documents

If a tenant doesnt have the right documents, then the landlords must contact the Home Office Landlord Checking Service if the tenant cannot provide the right documents. Once you have submitted your request to the Landlord Checking Service you will get an answer within 2 working days. You must keep this response to protect against a civil penalty.

Online right to rent service

Where a right to rent check has been conducted using the Home Office right to rent online service, the information is provided in real time directly from Home Office systems and there is no requirement for landlords to see or check individual documents.

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