Temporary Right to Rent checks will remain in place until the end of September 2022, the Government has announced.
They were first introduced by the Home Office to minimise face-to-face contact in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020. They allow for Right to Rent checks to be carried out online.
The end date for the temporary measures has been extended several times, to give landlords more time to adjust. The move comes after the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) had written to the Home Office on the issue.
The Right to Rent check allows landlords to use remote checking of potential tenants by:
- Asking your tenant to submit a scanned copy or a photo of their original documents via email or using a mobile app
- Arranging a video call with your tenant – ask them to hold up the original documents to the camera and check them against the digital copy of the documents
- Recording the date you made the check and mark it as “adjusted check undertaken on [insert date] due to COVID-19”
The reason for the latest extension is following positive feedback received after the Government’s announcement enabling landlords to use Identification Document Validation Technology (IDVT) to carry out digital checks on behalf of British and Irish citizens who hold a valid passport, from 6 April 2022.
According to the Home Office, deferring the end date of the adjusted checks to 30 September 2022 will ensure landlords have sufficient time to develop commercial relationships with identity service providers, make the necessary changes to their pre-tenancy checking processes and carry out responsible on-boarding of their chosen provider.
The decision also provides an opportunity for landlords to put measures in place to enable face to face document checks if they do not wish to adopt digital checks for British and Irish citizens with a valid passport (or Irish passport card).