How to Conduct Right to Rent Checks for International Students

As a new academic year approaches, you’ll need to prepare for an influx of new student tenants, many of whom may be international. To help you remain compliant, we explain your responsibilities when it comes to conducting Right to Rent checks on international students. 

What are Right to Rent checks?

Right to Rent checks were introduced in the UK in February 2016 as part of the government's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. It is now a legal requirement to check that all prospective tenants have a right to rent in the UK and aren’t living in the country illegally, unless your tenants are applying to rent in a property class which has a specific exemption. 

Why are Right to Rent checks important?

Failing to carry out necessary Right to Rent checks could cause you to be fined up to £3,000 per tenant. You could also be prosecuted for knowingly letting a property to an illegal immigrant. Therefore, it is extremely important that you comply with regulatory requirements. 

How to carry out a Right to Rent check

There are two ways to carry out a Right to Rent check: either manually or by using the Home Office online checking service. 

To carry out a manual Right to Rent check, you should: 

• Check your tenant's original documents (e.g. their passport, visa, biometric residence permit, UK birth certificate or driving license). 
• Check that the documents provided are valid and actually belong to the tenant.
• Make a copy of the documents and keep them for your records.
• Check that the tenant is over 18 and will be using the property as their main residence.
• Carry out follow-up checks if the tenant's visa or residency permit is due to expire during their tenancy.

Alternatively, you can use the Home Office online checking service to assess a tenant’s right to rent, if:

• They are a non-EEA national with a current biometric resident permit or card
• They are an EEA national or the family member of an EEA national with status granted under the EU Settlement Scheme
• They have status under the points-based immigration system

To carry out the online check, tenants need to view their own status and provide you with their share code. You can then enter the share code and tenant’s date of birth to see their Right to Rent profile page. You can then check that the image in the profile matches the intended tenant, either by meeting them in-person or via video link.

When should you carry out a Right to Rent check?

Depending on their immigration status, prospective tenants will have one of three permission statuses: unlimited right to rent, time-limited right to rent or no right to rent. 

Domestic students who are British or Irish citizens will have unlimited right to rent, while international sutdents will have a time-limited right to rent, as they are in the UK specifically to study. 

For international students who only have permission to stay in the UK for a limited period of time, you will need to complete Right to Rent checks no sooner than 28 days before the start of the tenancy. 

Will international students pass a Right to Rent check?

International students who have been accepted into a UK university to study full-time will pass Right to Rent checks, so there is no problem with letting to them. They can submit their student visa and university acceptance letter as evidence. 

You can initiate a Right to Rent check for an international student while they are still living outside the UK, so long as you do not begin the check more than 28 days before the start of the tenancy. 

Right to Rent checks with Concurrent

Concurrent integrates seamlessly with TrustID, a government-backed, IDSP-certified identity document validation technology which covers Right to Rent checks for UK and non-UK citizens in a single service. Through Concurrent, you can automate Right to Rent checks while remaining fully compliant. 

If the tenant's nationality is British, English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, Irish, the right to rent check will commence immediately after the contract is signed. If the tenant's nationality is not British or Irish then the right to rent check will commence 28 days before the contract start date or immediately after the contract is signed if there are less than 28 days before the tenancy start date.

Want to find out more about how Concurrent can streamline and simplify Right to Rent checks? Book a demo today.