Right to Rent is the compliance task a letting agent performs more than any other - once for every new tenancy - and it's the one where getting it wrong doesn't cost you a certificate, it costs you a civil penalty per occupier and, at the serious end, a criminal offence. It's also the check most tangled up with the Renters' Rights Act's anti-discrimination rules, because the safe way to do it and the fair way to do it are the same thing.
This is operational guidance for letting agents, not legal advice. Right to Rent applies to England only; where an immigration status is genuinely unclear, get specialist advice rather than guessing.
Who you check, and when
Before the tenancy starts, you must check every adult aged 18 or over who will occupy the property as their only or main home - whether or not they're named on the tenancy agreement, and regardless of whether the agreement is written, oral or implied. That includes British citizens. A correctly completed check gives you a "statutory excuse" against a civil penalty if an occupier later turns out not to have the right to rent.
Check everyone, the same way. The single most important anti-discrimination principle is that you apply the same check to all adult occupiers - you do not decide who to check based on how someone looks or sounds, or an assumption about their nationality. Checking selectively is where discrimination claims start.
The three valid methods in 2026
Which route you use depends on who the tenant is.
1. Home Office online check (share code). The standard route for anyone with a digital immigration status (an eVisa), and the only valid route for most people who aren't British or Irish citizens - physical documents like biometric residence permits are no longer the basis for a check. The tenant generates a share code on the Home Office "prove your right to rent" service and gives it to you with their date of birth; you enter both on the landlord-checking service, see their status on screen, and confirm the photo matches the person. A share code is valid for 90 days - if it's expired, the tenant generates a fresh one for free.
2. Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT). British and Irish citizens with a valid passport (or Irish passport card) can be checked digitally through a Home Office-certified IDVT provider, which validates the document and matches it to the person. You keep the provider's report as evidence. This route is optional but faster than handling originals.
3. Manual document check. Still valid for British and Irish citizens and anyone whose status can't be evidenced online. Obtain original documents from the Home Office lists, check them with the holder present (in person or over a live video call while you hold the originals), confirm they're genuine and consistent, and keep a dated copy.
List A, List B, and follow-up checks
The document type sets whether you ever need to look again.
- List A shows a continuous right to rent - a British/Irish passport, settled status, indefinite leave to remain. A List A check needs no follow-up, ever.
- List B shows a time-limited right - a visa or status with an expiry date. A List B check gives you a statutory excuse only until a follow-up date.
If you checked a List B document, carry out a follow-up check before the earlier of 12 months after the initial check, or the date the person's permission expires. Missing the follow-up is the most common way agents lose their excuse mid-tenancy - the first check was fine, so nothing prompts the diary. If a follow-up shows the person no longer has the right to rent, you must report them to the Home Office - doing so is what preserves your excuse. Quietly doing nothing does not.
Keeping every check, its expiry and its follow-up date in one place - rather than in a spreadsheet nobody opens - is exactly what OdjoAI Property is built to do. But the principle is process, not product. If you're doing this manually, do it religiously: diarise every List B follow-up the day you complete the initial check.
Who carries the liability - and get it in writing
By default the landlord carries the Right to Rent duty. But the rules let a letting agent take it on in writing - and once an agent has agreed in writing to carry out the checks, the agent, not the landlord, is liable for any civil penalty arising from a missed or defective check. Liability can't be passed on beyond the agent.
So the worst position is the common one: doing the checks in practice with nothing in the management agreement about who holds the liability. Fix it. Most managed-portfolio agreements should state explicitly that the agent handles Right to Rent, including initial and follow-up checks, and the timescales for them. This is the same "get the take-on documented" discipline as when you onboard a self-managing landlord.
Keeping the two duties aligned
Right to Rent and the Renters' Rights Act anti-discrimination rules pull in the same direction: check consistently, judge on evidence, and keep the trail. Retain your check evidence securely, apply the same process to everyone, and record what you did and when - the audit-trail habit our DSAR guide sets out. A defensible check is a check you can show you did properly, for everyone, on time.
Keeping the record right
A check you can't evidence is a check you didn't do. The statutory excuse depends not just on making the check but on retaining proof of it in the right form.
What to keep. For an online share-code check, retain the online check confirmation - the page showing the person's status and the date you checked, not the tenant's own "prove your right to rent" view. For an IDVT check, keep the provider's report. For a manual check, keep a clear, complete copy of the documents you saw, with the date recorded on it. In every case the record must show you checked before the tenancy began.
How long. Keep the evidence for the whole tenancy and for at least 12 months after it ends. Store it securely - these are identity and immigration documents, so data-protection obligations apply: don't keep more than you need, don't share it beyond the purpose, and hold it somewhere you can actually retrieve if the Home Office asks.
The video-call point. A manual check can be done over a live video call, but only while you physically hold the original documents - you can't check off photos the tenant emailed. For British and Irish passport holders an IDVT provider removes the need to handle originals at all, which is why agents managing at volume move to it.
A worked example. You let to a tenant on a two-year visa expiring in 18 months. On day one you do an online share-code check - a List B, time-limited status - and get a statutory excuse. The follow-up is due before the earlier of 12 months from the check or the visa expiry: here, 12 months, so diarise it now. At the follow-up the tenant generates a fresh share code confirming the visa is still valid, and your excuse rolls on. Had it shown the visa had lapsed, you'd report it to the Home Office - and that report, not silence, is what keeps you covered. The initial check almost never fails; the diarised follow-up is the weak point, so build it into the system that holds the tenancy, not a personal calendar that leaves with whoever set it.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to check British citizens?
Yes. The check applies to every adult occupier using the property as their only or main home, including British and Irish citizens. You can check them via a manual passport check or a certified IDVT provider.
How long is a share code valid?
90 days from generation. If it expires before you complete the check, the tenant simply generates a new one - they're free and instant. Always confirm the online photo matches the person taking the tenancy.
If my agency does the checks, who pays a penalty for a mistake?
The agent - but only where the agent has accepted responsibility for Right to Rent in writing. Put it in the management agreement so both the duty and the liability are clear.
When is a follow-up check due?
Only for time-limited (List B) statuses, before the earlier of 12 months after the initial check or the expiry of the person's permission. Continuous-right (List A) holders need no follow-up.
The takeaway
Right to Rent rewards boring consistency. Check every adult occupier the same way, pick the right method for their status, diarise every List B follow-up, and pin down in writing that your agency holds the duty and the liability. Do that and two things follow: your statutory excuse holds if a status later fails, and you stay clear of the discrimination line - because "we check everyone, the same way, every time" is both the compliant answer and the fair one.
