Digital, share code or manual? Choosing the right Right to Rent check

Which Right to Rent check do you need?

It depends on the evidence your applicant has. Here's the quick version, with the detail for each route below.

• British or Irish passport, or Irish passport card: Route 1, a Digital Right to Rent check through a registered Right to Rent Digital Verification Service Provider (RtR DVSP). Providers can verify passports that expired up to six months ago, but our check currently accepts in-date documents only.

• eVisa: Route 2, a Home Office online check using the share code your applicant generates on GOV.UK.

• Eligible physical or digitally issued document, including an expired British passport: Route 3, a manual check using List A or List B.

• None of the above: the Home Office Landlord Checking Service may be able to confirm their Right to Rent.

Every adult who will use the property as their only or main home needs a Right to Rent check before the tenancy starts. That includes British citizens, people who aren't named on the tenancy agreement and arrangements that are written, oral or implied.

Completing the prescribed check correctly gives a landlord or agent a statutory excuse. That's a legal defence against a civil penalty if the occupier is later found not to have the Right to Rent. Without one, the penalty is up to £10,000 per occupier for a first breach and £20,000 for a repeat breach (£5,000 and £10,000 for lodgers).

The challenge isn't simply completing a check. It's knowing which route applies to the person in front of you.

Route 1: Digital Right to Rent check

A Digital Right to Rent check is a prescribed route carried out by a registered RtR DVSP. The provider completes the digital identity verification in line with the Right to Rent supplementary code, then gives the landlord or agent the result and evidence they need.

Through this route, a RtR DVSP can verify:

• A British passport.

• An Irish passport or Irish passport card.

• Acceptable List A and List B documents that the issuing authority provides in digital form.

From 1st October 2026, this includes a British or Irish passport, or Irish passport card, that expired no more than six months before the check. The provider must read and verify the passport chip to do this (known as passive authentication).

The provider must be on the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) register, with a note confirming it can carry out Right to Rent checks. Our Digital Right to Rent check currently accepts in-date documents only. If a passport has expired, use a manual check instead.

What does the landlord or agent still need to do?

Even when the RtR DVSP completes the digital verification, you still need to be satisfied that the photo and details it returns match the person applying for the tenancy. You can do this in person, by video call or using facial recognition technology from the RtR DVSP.

Keep a clear copy of the check for the length of the tenancy and for one year after it ends.

One distinction matters here. A RtR DVSP can carry out the prescribed Digital Right to Rent check, but it can also provide technology that supports the other two routes. Those are separate uses, and it helps to keep them apart.

Route 2: Home Office online check (share code)

Anyone with an eVisa must prove their Right to Rent through the Home Office online Right to Rent service. An eVisa is the Home Office's online record of someone's immigration status.

The occupier generates a share code through GOV.UK and gives it to you. A share code is a nine-character code that lets you see their Right to Rent information directly from Home Office systems, using the official "Check a tenant's right to rent" service. British and Irish citizens can't get one, because their Right to Rent isn't held as an eVisa.

As part of the check, you also need to confirm that the photo returned by the Home Office is of the person applying for the tenancy. You can do this in person or by video call.

If you'd like to make that comparison digitally using facial recognition technology, the Code says it must come from a RtR DVSP. That supports the Home Office online check. It doesn't replace it or turn it into a Digital Right to Rent check.

Keep a clear copy of the Home Office result, including the date of the check, for the length of the tenancy and for one year afterwards.

Where someone's Right to Rent is time-limited, you'll need a follow-up check before that period ends.

Route 3: Manual Right to Rent check

Where it's permitted, you can establish a statutory excuse with a manual check using documents from the Home Office's two lists of acceptable documents. List A is for people with an unlimited Right to Rent, such as a British passport or a certificate of naturalisation. List B is for people with a time-limited Right to Rent, such as a passport endorsed with time-limited permission to stay.

For physical documents, you need the original document or documents. Check they appear genuine and belong to the person presenting them. Compare the photo and date of birth across the evidence and with the person, either in person or by video call.

List A accepts a British passport whether it's current or expired. So a British citizen whose passport expired more than six months ago can still use a manual check.

The 1st October 2026 Code also recognises acceptable documents issued in digital form by the issuing authority. Where you rely on a digital document, take reasonable steps to confirm it's valid and that it came from, or on behalf of, that authority. The Home Office strongly encourages using a RtR DVSP for the identity check in these cases.

A RtR DVSP can also support a manual check with facial recognition. If you use facial recognition technology, it must come from a RtR DVSP, and you need to keep the comparison alongside the document you checked.

Finally, keep a clear copy of the document, front and back where it applies, in a format that can't be manually altered. Keep a secure record of the date you completed the check too.

When should you do the check?

Choosing the right route is only part of establishing a statutory excuse. Timing matters too.

When you can complete the initial check depends on whether the person has an unlimited or time-limited Right to Rent:

• Unlimited Right to Rent: at any point before the tenancy agreement is entered into.

• Time-limited Right to Rent: completed and recorded no more than 28 calendar days before the tenancy starts, including Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays.

So the question isn't only "Which check should I use?" It's also "Am I doing it at the right time?"

For anyone with a time-limited Right to Rent, record the expiry point so you can complete a follow-up check in time. The statutory excuse lasts until the latest of 12 months from the check, the end of the person's permission to be in the UK or the expiry of the document they used.

So which route applies?

Start with the evidence the person has, rather than pushing every applicant through the same journey.

British or Irish citizen with an eligible passport or passport card?

A Digital Right to Rent check through a registered RtR DVSP may be the right fit. That includes passports that expired no more than six months ago, as long as the chip can be verified.

British citizen whose passport expired longer ago?

A manual check works. List A accepts British passports whether they're current or expired.

Someone with an eVisa?

Use the Home Office online Right to Rent service with their share code.

Someone relying on an eligible physical or digitally issued document?

A manual document check may be appropriate, as long as the document is on List A or List B.

Digital journey couldn't be completed?

Don't treat that as confirmation that the person doesn't have the Right to Rent. They may simply need another prescribed route. A failed route isn't necessarily a failed Right to Rent.

What if the standard routes don't work?

Some people can't show their Right to Rent through the usual routes. They may have an outstanding application, administrative review or appeal, or their digital immigration record may not yet let them evidence their status. Sometimes the online service has a technical issue, such as an incorrect share code.

In these cases, you may be able to use the Home Office Landlord Checking Service. It replies within two working days, so hold off entering into the tenancy until you hear back. A positive response gives you a statutory excuse for 12 months.

The important thing is not to improvise. The statutory excuse comes from following one of the prescribed processes correctly.

What changed on 1st October 2026

The new Code of practice came into force on 1st October 2026. For choosing a route, two changes matter most: any RtR DVSP you use must be on the OfDIA register, and it can now verify British and Irish passports up to six months after they expire.

For the full rundown, see what changed on 1st October 2026.

Right person, right route, right evidence

Right to Rent doesn't need to be complicated, but it does need the right route for the right person. For letting agents, that comes down to three questions:

• Who is the person?

• What evidence do they have?

• Which prescribed route applies to them?

Technology can make those journeys faster and easier, but it shouldn't turn Right to Rent into a one-size-fits-all process. The best approach helps your team find the right route, complete it at the right time and keep the evidence that shows what happened.

That's why we built our Digital Right to Rent check for letting agents who want the prescribed digital journey and the evidence they need kept in one place.

Right person. Right route. Right evidence.

Recommended reading

Home Office: Landlord's guide to Right to Rent checks

The practical starting point for landlords and letting agents, covering the checking routes, acceptable evidence, timing, follow-up checks and record keeping.

Home Office: Code of practice for landlords and their agents, 1 October 2026

The formal Code setting out how landlords and agents establish a statutory excuse, and the requirements for manual, Home Office online and RtR DVSP checks.

We're registered to provide Digital Right to Rent checks. View our GOV.UK register entry or find out more about our Digital Right to Rent check.