Recently, a member contacted our Elite Homes and Property Advice team with a query regarding Right to Rent checks.
They were aware that changes were on the horizon, and that the stakes for getting these checks wrong were significant, so they wanted to understand more about how they should conduct Right to Rent checks when temporary changes are lifted, as well as the timeframes for when this is expected to occur.
The ‘changes to Right to Rent checks,’ according to Elite Homes and Property Advisor, refer to the interim adjustments made to the checks at the onset of the epidemic last year.
These modifications were supposed to conclude on Sunday, May 16th, but the government recently announced that they had been prolonged until Monday, June 21st.
After the prolonged limitations expire on Sunday, June 20th, pre-Covid checks will be required once again.
When the first lockdown began, the government made temporary modifications to Right to Rent checks, allowing checks to be completed without the necessity for a face-to-face meeting. This was done to help stop the coronavirus from spreading.
To confirm a potential tenant’s Right to Rent status before granting a tenancy, landlords could:
- Have any potential adult occupants email or use a mobile app to provide a scanned copy or photo of their original documentation.
- Set up a video conference with the potential tenant and ask them to hold the paper up on the screen. Compare this to the copy you received.
- Keep a note of the date you made the check and the statement “an adjusted check has been undertaken on [insert date] owing to COVID-19” on a copy of the scanned document.
The Elite Homes and Property team will provide a resource to assist members in doing face-to-face rent checks once more.