Under Right to Rent, landlords or their agents should check identity documents for all new tenants, and take copies.

The documents include:

• a UK passport
• a European Economic Area passport or identity card
• a permanent residence card or travel document showing indefinite leave to remain
• a Home Office immigration status document
• a certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen

A full list of documents is available here

Agents should bear in mind that the checks should be carried out on all, not just some, new tenants.

There are codes of practice to be followed, including guidance on avoiding unlawful discrimination which was drawn up with the assistance of the Human Rights Commission.

There are four steps involved in making a Right to Rent check:-

Check which adult tenants will live in the property as their only or main home;
Ask tenants for the original documents that show they have the right to be in the UK;
Check the documents are valid with the tenant present;
Make and keep copies of the documents and record the date you made the check.
If a potential tenant has an outstanding immigration application or appeal with the Home Office, you can conduct a check on that person’s ‘right to rent’ via the Landlords Checking Service.

Landlords and agents in the pilot area (Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton) should continue to make the checks as they have been doing since December 1, 2014.

Blog post from Property Industry Eye

If you are concerned about the issues highlighted in this article why not consider letting your property on Central Housing Group’s ‘Guaranteed Rent’ Scheme. Our landlords are paid an agreed monthly Guaranteed Rent for the duration of the term of their contract regardless of their tenants’ immigration status or employment circumstances and regardless of whether their property is occupied or not.

Landlords – if you are worried about these ‘Right to Rent’ immigration checks why not consider our ‘Guaranteed Rent’ Scheme because, when you let your property on our scheme, you will not be required to carry out immigration checks on your tenants, or liable to legal prosecution for failing to carry out adequate immigration checks on your tenants. 

Consequently our landlords have complete peace of mind knowing they will not be impacted at all by any of the responsibilities or risks highlighted in this article.

If you are interested in finding our more about our ‘Guaranteed Rent’ Scheme, currently operating in north, east & west London, please call us today on 020 8447 1222.

See details of our Guaranteed Rent Scheme here