Changes to right to rent checks from 1st July 2021

A draft revised Right to Rent Code of Practice has been issued by The Home Office in readiness for changes to checks in England.  The changes have come as a result of the UK leaving the European Union (EU) and the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020 ending free movement law in the UK on 31 December 2020.

From 1st July 2021, if someone is an EEA, EU, or Swiss national, evidence will need to be provided of their UK immigration status rather than their national identification.

The majority of EEA citizens resident in the UK will have made an application to the EU Settlement Scheme and will have been provided with digital evidence of their UK immigration status. They will evidence their Right to Rent by sharing their immigration status digitally, using the Home Office online Right to Rent service on Gov.UK.

The applicant provides a share code and their date of birth, which is inputted to reveal a status of unlimited or time limited status to remain.

There will still be some EEA citizens who have another form of leave in the UK, which is held in a physical document, e.g. an endorsement in a passport or visa. Those documents are included in the prescribed document lists, providing landlords with a statutory excuse against liability for a civil penalty. For more information, see the Right to Rent document checks, a user guide.

Digital status checks can be conducted by video call permanently while hard copy checks will still need to be conducted in person. Existing rules remain in place for all new tenancies and renewals up to 30 June 2021.