What changes for Right to Rent on 1 October 2026? A new code of practice takes effect: tenants with an eVisa can only prove their right to rent through the Home Office online service, and if you pay a digital ID company to run checks for you, it must now be a registered provider. The penalties do not change, but they are per person, so a single missed check on a couple can still cost £20,000.
The new landlords' code of practice was published on 30 June 2026 and replaces the version in force since 13 February 2024. It is brought into force by SI 2026/700, made on 24 June 2026. It applies to every check you carry out on or after 1 October, including follow-up checks on tenants you already have.
What actually changes on 1 October 2026?
Three things, and only the first affects most landlords day to day.
1. eVisa holders can only be checked online. The code is blunt: people who have been issued an eVisa "will only be able to evidence their right to rent using the Home Office online service". In practice the applicant gives you a right to rent share code and their date of birth, you enter both into the check a tenant's right to rent service, and you keep the result. No other immigration portal counts. An old biometric residence permit, a visa vignette or a Home Office letter is not a substitute for someone whose status is digital.
2. Digital identity checks must go through a registered provider. Using an identity document validation technology provider (the code now calls them Right to Rent Digital Verification Service Providers, or RtR DVSPs) remains optional. But if you choose that route, the provider must be on the government's register of certified digital identity services. Facial recognition checks may only be done through a registered RtR DVSP. An unregistered app gives you no statutory excuse.
3. The document lists widen. Digital versions of acceptable documents now count where they are issued and verified digitally by the body that created them. Under the government's updated supplementary code for digital checks, a registered provider can verify a British or Irish passport, or Irish passport card, up to six months past its expiry date. For manual checks, expired British and Irish passports and Irish passport cards stay on List A, as before.
The companion code on avoiding unlawful discrimination takes effect on the same day. More on that below.
Which check should I use for which tenant?
Pick the route by what the applicant holds, not by what is quickest for you. The code expects the same approach for every adult occupier.
| Applicant holds | Route | What you keep |
|---|---|---|
| eVisa or other digital immigration status | Home Office online check, using their share code and date of birth | The online result, showing the date of the check |
| British or Irish passport, including expired within six months | Registered RtR DVSP, or a manual check | The provider's output, or clear copies of the document |
| Other List A or List B documents | Manual check in the tenant's presence (live video is acceptable) | Clear, dated copies of each document |
| Cannot show documents or a share code | Home Office Landlord Checking Service | The Positive Right to Rent Notice |
The Landlord Checking Service replies within two working days. A positive notice gives you a statutory excuse for 12 months from the date on it, so diarise the recheck.
When must I carry out the check?
For someone with an unlimited right to rent, any time before the tenancy agreement is entered into. For someone with time-limited permission, no earlier than 28 calendar days before the tenancy starts. The 28 days include weekends and bank holidays, so a check done in the first week of a long letting process can be too early and has to be repeated.
You must check every adult who will live in the property as their only or main home, whether or not they are named on the tenancy. Under-18s are not checked. Social housing, student halls, accommodation arranged by a local authority and long leases sit outside the scheme.
Do I need to recheck existing tenants?
No, not because of the new code alone. Tenants with an unlimited right to rent who were properly checked under the old code need nothing further. The change bites on follow-up checks: tenants with time-limited permission must be rechecked before your statutory excuse runs out, and any follow-up done on or after 1 October must follow the new code.
Your excuse for a time-limited tenant lasts until the later of 12 months from your check, the end of their permission to be in the UK, or the expiry of the document you relied on. If a follow-up check shows they no longer have the right to rent, or they will not cooperate, you must report it to the Home Office through its online form as soon as reasonably practicable and before your excuse expires. A child who turns 18 mid-tenancy does not trigger a check, but must be included in the next follow-up.
If you buy a property with sitting tenants, get evidence from the seller that checks were done. For tenancies that began before the scheme started, you only need proof of the start date.
How much are the Right to Rent fines?
Up to £20,000 per occupier, set by the Home Office, not your council. The code's penalty table is per person:
| Breach | Lodger | Occupier (any other tenant) |
|---|---|---|
| First breach | £5,000 | £10,000 |
| Repeat breach | £10,000 | £20,000 |
| First breach, paid within 21 days (30% off) | £3,500 | £7,000 |
A breach counts as a first breach if you have not been in breach in the last three years. The 30% fast payment discount applies to first-breach penalties only. A lodger here means someone renting a room in accommodation they share with you.
Separately, letting to someone you know, or have reasonable cause to believe, has no right to rent is a criminal offence carrying up to five years' imprisonment on indictment (Immigration Act 2014, s.33C). If your letting agent has agreed in writing to take on Right to Rent checks, liability for the civil penalty moves to them. Without that written agreement it stays with you, whatever the agency's marketing says.
A worked example: one missed check, two occupiers
Sam owns three flats in Leicester, managed himself. In November 2026 he lets one to a couple. The first applicant is British and shows a passport. The second holds an eVisa but, keen to get the keys handed over, offers a biometric residence permit that expired in 2024, and Sam photocopies it.
Under the new code that copy gives Sam no statutory excuse, because an eVisa holder can only be checked through the online service. Suppose the second occupier's permission had in fact lapsed. The Home Office penalty is £10,000 for that occupier, reduced to £7,000 if Sam pays within 21 days.
Now suppose Sam had already received a penalty in the last three years on another flat. That is a repeat breach: £20,000 for one occupier, with no fast payment discount. Had the couple both lacked status, it would be £40,000. The share code check would have taken five minutes.
What should I keep, and for how long?
Keep the evidence for the length of the tenancy and one year after it ends, then securely destroy it. The new code says this in terms, including for online checks. For a manual check that means clear copies of each document with the date you made the check. For an online check, the Home Office response showing the date. For a provider check, the provider's output.
Put the destruction date in your diary when the tenancy ends. Holding identity documents indefinitely is its own data protection problem.
How do I avoid a discrimination complaint?
Treat every applicant the same way, whichever route proves their status. The discrimination code, in force on the same day, warns against favouring applicants whose status is easier to verify, refusing someone because they need the Landlord Checking Service, or checking only people you assume are not British. Check every adult occupier, and do not treat time-limited permission as a reason to refuse. The penalty for that sits under the Equality Act, but the practical risk is also reputational now that councils are enforcing the separate ban on refusing tenants who have children or claim benefits.
Does Right to Rent apply in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland?
No. The scheme applies in England only. Landlords in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland do not carry out Right to Rent checks, although immigration offences and the general law still apply across the UK.
What to do before 1 October
- Stop accepting physical documents from eVisa holders. Ask every applicant for a share code first if they are not British or Irish.
- Check your ID provider is registered. If you or your agent use an app for passport checks, confirm it appears on the register as an RtR DVSP. If it does not, fall back to manual checks.
- Get agent responsibility in writing. If an agent does your checks, the terms of business should say they accept responsibility for Right to Rent compliance. See our guide to letting agent fees and what they cover.
- List every time-limited tenant and their recheck date. Add each follow-up and each destruction date to your records alongside gas, EICR and EPC renewals. Our landlord compliance checklist and the free compliance deadline checker keep those dates in one place.
For how Right to Rent penalties compare with the council fines introduced by the Renters' Rights Act, see our landlord fines table for 2026.
This is general information as at September 2026, not legal, tax or financial advice. Check the current code on GOV.UK or take advice before relying on it for a specific tenancy.
