As a landlord, it’s your legal responsibility to make sure every adult living in your properties has the right to rent in the UK. That’s every adult – not just those named on the tenancy agreements; every occupant aged 18 and over must have the right to rent. So, how do you make sure?

Ensuring your tenants have the Right to Rent

All tenants must prove to you that they’re in the country legally.

Where they are UK and Irish nationals, this is usually straightforward. As long as they have valid passports, you can use digital identity verification technology (IDVT) to perform passport checks without actually having to see the document.

For non-UK national tenants, you must inspect their original documents – in person where possible. Sometimes it isn’t possible to get your hands on the actual documents. For example, if they’re with the Home Office as part of an application process. When that’s the case, you can use the Landlord’s Checking Service to verify status of that tenant.

Non-Compliance will cost you

If you don’t carry out these checks, or if you allow someone to move in after failing them, the implications can be serious. Nobody wants a £10,000 fine (and that’s only for the first offence – after that it doubles)!

Serious cases, such as knowingly allowing a disqualified person to move into your investment property, can even result in criminal prosecution and up to five years imprisonment for the landlord. So, whatever you do, don’t cut corners or turn a blind eye.

You mustn’t discriminate either

Everyone likes a smooth process but you mustn’t cherry-pick tenants based on the complexity (or lack of complexity) of the checks required. That kind of discrimination is, quite rightly, against the law.

You must make the process of finding tenants fair and non-discriminatory, regardless of the complexity of their checks. Again, no cutting corners.

You can get help with Right to Rent checks

Right to Rent checks take time, and they can be complex. The implications of non-compliance are scary AND this is only one of many boxes you need to tick, as a landlord, to stay above the law. So it’s a great idea to get some help.

For a property management company, Right to Rent checks are part of day-to-day business. We have processes in place to make sure that tenant finding, tenant checks and move-ins are smooth and fully compliant, every time. As the law evolves – which it regularly does – so do we.

If your properties are managed by Homesure, you don’t need to worry about Right to Rent. It’s taken care of. If you own investment properties in Liverpool City Region, Manchester or Cheshire that aren’t managed by Homesure Property, we can look after those for you as well. Get peace of mind about your entire portfolio. Move your properties to our fully managed service in one easy step using Homesure Switch – our hassle-free management transfer service for investors and landlords.