Right to rent

As long as you have submitted a new visa application before your current one expires, your prospective landlord can contact the Home Office online checking system for landlords who will confirm that you are legally entitled to remain in the UK.

As a visiting national who is able to enter via an e-gate you do not need to provide evidence of your immigration status for right to rent – you just need to show evidence of your date of entry to the UK and you have 6 months in the UK from that date.

Please refer your prospective landlord to page 44 of the Landlord’s Guide to Right to Rent checks document (pdf) which confirms the following:

Nationals of an EEA country, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea or the USA who are visitors to the UK

Nationals of an EEA country, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea or the USA, who enter the UK as a visitor, are able to use eGates at UK airports, seaports, and Brussels and Paris Eurostar terminals, should they hold a biometric passport. If they do not have a biometric passport, they will be informed of their immigration permission and its associated conditions verbally by a Border Force officer. They will not have their passports endorsed with a stamp.

Those coming to live in the UK for more than six months will have a visa in their passport and will collect their biometric residence permit post-arrival or will have been issued an eVisa.

Those entering the UK as a visitor or business visitor will be granted automatic Permission to Enter for a maximum period of six months and will not have a document to evidence their lawful status in the UK. These nationals are permitted to use a combination of their passport, plus evidence of entry to the UK to demonstrate their right to rent. Although, by exception, some individuals may receive a stamp in their passport which will evidence their date of entry to the UK. In these circumstances, a landlord can conduct a right to rent check by checking their passport and the endorsement in it.

Acceptable evidence of travel to the UK may include (but is not restricted to) one of the following, or a combination of:

1. an original or copy of a boarding pass or electronic boarding pass for air, rail or sea travel to the UK, establishing the date of arrival in the UK in the preceding six month
2. an original or copy airline, rail or boat ticket or e-ticket establishing the date of arrival in the UK in the preceding six months
3. any type of booking confirmation (original or copy) for air, rail or sea travel to the UK establishing the date of arrival in the UK in the preceding six months
4. any other documentary evidence which establishes the date of arrival in the UK in the preceding six months

A landlord is not required to see immigration permission for the full duration of the period they wish to let the property for and this actually may be seen as discriminatory practice. The Landlords Guide to Right to Rent Checks confirms the following:

‘You will not be liable for a civil penalty if you let accommodation for occupation by someone with a time-limited right to rent. You must conduct checks on those with a time-limited right to rent no sooner than 28 days before the start of a tenancy. You should retain evidence of the check along with the date of when the check was conducted for the duration of the tenancy and for at least one year thereafter.

The eligibility period

If presented with a document from List B of the list of acceptable documents, you will establish a statutory excuse for a limited time period, ‘the eligibility period’. The eligibility period will be the longest of the following:

1. one year, beginning with the date on which the checks were last made.
2. until the period of the person’s immigration permission in the UK expires.
3. until the expiry of the validity of the Home Office issued immigration document which evidences their right to be in the UK.

A further check can take place at any time, such as when a tenant tells you that they have extended their immigration permission. To maintain a statutory excuse against a penalty, you will need to conduct a follow-up check before the end of the eligibility period.’

See pages 17 & 18 of the Landlords Guide to Right to Rent Checks (pdf)

Basically, your landlord can let to you for up to 12 months as long as they have conducted a right to rent check to confirm  you have valid immigration permission to be in the UK at the start of your tenancy.