Accommodation provided by an employer as part of a job or training is exempt from the right to rent check requirement. Shelters and shelters are only exempt if the accommodation is not autonomous and is managed by a public authority, housing association, volunteer organization or charity. You can use several documents in combination to prove your right to rent, such as letters from Her Majesty's prisons and parole services. A full list of documents that can be used in combination to fulfill a right to rent check is available on the front of this document.
Any other person, who does not belong to one of the groups listed, has no right to rent and should not be offered accommodation. If your documents aren't just a passport, you may want to find them in this online guide so you can indicate them to the landlord and review them more quickly. The landlord must copy all documents and keep them for at least 12 months after the lease ends. If you have a limited-time rental right, the landlord must make new checks after one year or (if longer) just before your current license period or right to live in the UK expires.
If the landlord discovers that they currently have no permission or right to live in the UK, they must immediately report this to the Home Office. This does not affect your rent or other rights to live in the home. Landlords and agents must not discriminate when they apply these rules. There is a code of practice to help ensure that they don't.
This means that they must review everyone's documents, not just those of people who might appear to be migrants. If you think you have been discriminated against, you can find guidance on how to challenge it here. If landlords are found to have rented to someone without the right to rent, they can be fined and possibly sent to prison. It is recommended that landlords use the check service if they are unsure how this guide can be applied to potential tenants.
This guidance is vague, but it should mean that long-term residents (for example, people from Commonwealth countries) should find that landlords are more willing to accept them without the documents that others may need to provide. The Home Office can send a referral notification to a landlord who believes they have rented to someone without the right to rent. There are three types of right to rent checks: a document-based manual check, a right to rent check using identity verification technology (IDVT) through the services of an identity service provider (IDSP), or an online check through the Ministry of the Interior's online right to rent verification service. Landlords cannot discriminate against those who choose to prove their right to rent using a document from the list of acceptable documents; doing so is illegal.
A person who arrived in the UK after January 1, 1973, but before 1988, may not automatically have the right to rent. A person also has no right to rent if their residence permit is subject to a condition that prevents them from occupying that accommodation. The landlord could face civil or criminal penalties if he rents to someone without the right to rent or if he allows him to stay after his right to rent has expired. It is important for landlords and agents alike to understand what exemptions exist from the right-to-rent check requirement.
Accommodation provided by an employer as part of a job or training is exempt from this requirement, as are shelters and shelters managed by public authorities, housing associations, volunteer organizations or charities. Additionally, those with limited-time rental rights must have their documents checked again after one year or before their current license period or right-to-live in the UK expires. There is an additional mandatory possession reason for secured and secured short-term leases where someone on the property has no right to rent. The landlord has a defense if he can show that he carried out the checks correctly when necessary or if he notified the Ministry of the Interior that a person's right-to-rent for a limited time has expired.
If a person needs permission to be in the UK but doesn't have it, they don't have the right-to-rent. The landlord is required by law to carry out a follow-up check if you had a limited-time right-to-be in the UK when the initial check was carried out. Then send a request for information asking for proof that checks were performed correctly. More information on verifying students' right-to-rent can be found in the landlord's guide on verifying this requirement.
If you review this document correctly as described here and in the landlord's guide, you'll establish a limited-time legal excuse against liability for civil penalties and you'll need double-check it before it expires.
