Do I have the right to rent in the UK?

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When most people think of moving into rented accommodation they often don’t realise that their landlord has to carry out a government imposed check on whether they have a ‘’right to rent’’. Under the right to rent legislation right to rent checks must be carried out on all adult tenants, whether they are British citizens or not. However, if you are in the UK on a visa it can feel as if the right to rent checks are targeted, as although the checks apply to all prospective tenants the purpose is to see if you are entitled to be in the UK and if you aren’t they are part of the immigration hostile environment policy. In this blog we look at the practicalities of right to rent checks and who has the right to rent in the UK.

Landlord and tenant solicitors

If you need legal advice about any aspect of landlord and tenant law or personal immigration law then the landlord and tenant and personal immigration law teams at OTS Solicitors can help you. Call us on 0203 959 9123 or complete our online enquiry form to arrange a video conference or telephone appointment.

What is the right to rent?

Your right to rent a property is dependent on your immigration status. Although the right to rent check has to be carried out on every adult tenant what the government intends, through right to rent checks, is to try and make it harder, if not impossible, for those who are over stayers or who don’t have leave to be in the UK to rent accommodation from a private landlord. If your landlord doesn’t carry out the right to rent check then they risk penalties.

The law on who has a right to rent is complex and it is important for both landlord and tenants to understand that under the right to rent provisions:

• Certain people do not have a right to rent, or live in, private residential accommodation as their only or main home

• In order to avoid sanctions, landlords affected by the right to rent provisions must check that any adult occupier of residential accommodation they let out has a right to rent, and that the tenant continues to have a right to rent

• From the 1 December 2016 an occupier of a property who has no right to rent can be evicted without a court order in specified circumstances.

Do I have a right to rent?

Depending on your immigration status, and the type of leave to enter or remain in the UK you have, then you may have:

• An unlimited right to rent

• A time-limited right to rent

• No right to rent.

The next step is to work out what category you fall into. You have an unlimited right to rent if any of the following are applicable to you:

• You are a British citizen

• You are an EEA citizen

• You are an EU citizen

• You are a Swiss national

• You are a Commonwealth Citizen with right of abode in the UK

• You have Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK.

You have a limited right to rent if any of the following apply:

• You have leave to enter or remain in the UK on a time limited visa or you have time limited leave to remain on humanitarian protection grounds

• You are a non-EEA national exercising an EEA treaty right including if you are the family member of an EEA worker or a Zambrano carer

• You have been given time-limited permission to rent by the Home Office. For example, if you have a pending asylum claim or appeal.

You have no right to rent if:

• You don’t have valid leave to enter or remain in the UK and

• You haven’t been granted discretionary permission to rent by the Home Office.

If you have a time limited right to rent then your landlord has to carry out a further right to rent check when:

• Your leave to remain in the UK is at an end or if earlier

• Twelve months after the right to rent check.

When does the right to rent check have to be carried out?

The rules say that right to rent checks can be carried out at any time before the start of a new tenancy agreement unless you only have a limited right to rent. If your right to rent is limited then your prospective landlord must carry out the right to rent check not earlier than twenty eight days prior to the start of your tenancy agreement.

Who do right to rent checks apply to?

If a tenancy agreement started after the 1 February 2016 your landlord is under a legal obligation to carry out a right to rent check on:

• The tenant or lodger of a property

• Any other adults who will be living at the property.

A landlord doesn’t have to check the right to rent status of children under the age of eighteen or guests who stay in the rented property and don't pay rent.

What happens if I fail a right to rent check?

If you fail a right to rent check carried out by your potential landlord then they can't legally let the property to you. If they do so then the landlord will be committing an offence.

You may think that you will pass a right to rent check but the government prescribed rules on the documents required to pass a right to rent check have to be followed by your prospective landlord. If your landlord doesn’t see and check the correct government prescribed documents then your landlord is committing an offence. Therefore, don’t be surprised if a landlord is very specific about exactly what documents and other personal paperwork they need to see in order to carry out the right to rent check.

Is my passport sufficient to pass a right to rent check?

Your passport may be sufficient to pass a right to rent check. Your passport should be sufficient if you are a British citizen or an EU citizen. If you aren’t a British citizen or an EU national then your passport will need to show your permission or leave to be in the UK.

Can a landlord refuse to rent to me if I don’t have a passport?

If you don’t have your passport (for example, it is with the Home Office) then you will need to produce other prescribed documents from a list produced by the government.

It is against the law for a landlord to refuse to rent a property to you because you are not a British citizen or because you don’t have a passport. The law says landlords can’t discriminate against potential tenants on the grounds of race, ethnicity or nationality.

How do I pass a right to rent check if my documents are with the Home Office?

Many people need to send documents to the Home Office as part of their visa application. If you don’t have your passport or other prescribed right to rent check documents then your prospective landlord can request a government ‘right to rent check ‘. To carry out the government right to rent check your prospective landlord will need your Home Office reference number.

You may be worried about how long it will take for the government right to rent check to be conducted. The government says that it can take up to two days. The rules say that if the Home Office doesn’t respond to the landlord ‘s request for them to carry out the right to rent check on you then after two working days have passed from the date of the request your landlord can rent the property to you.

What happens if I rent without a right to rent check?

If your landlord rents a property to you when you don’t have the right to rent then if the Home Office finds out they will send your landlord a disqualification notice.

Your landlord will commit a criminal offence unless they end your tenancy of the property. Your landlord should give you four weeks’ notice of eviction and the notice should give an eviction date.

The law says a landlord doesn’t need a court order to evict you from a property if you don’t have a right to rent but your landlord can't physically force you to leave or make threats. However, if you don’t leave voluntarily the likelihood is that they will get a court order.

What happens if one tenant has a right to rent?

If some of the people living in a rented property have the right to rent and you or others don’t then your landlord can only end your tenancy by giving notice in the prescribed way and getting an eviction order.

Landlord and tenant solicitors

If you need legal advice about landlord and tenant law or personal immigration law and your right to rent then the landlord and tenant team and personal immigration law team at OTS Solicitors can help you. Call us on 0203 959 9123 or complete our online enquiry form to arrange a video conference or telephone appointment.