How to Conduct Right to Rent Checks Digitally (2026)
Digital identity verification is now the Home Office's preferred Right to Rent route. Here's exactly how to use IDSPs and the online share-code service without breaching the rules.
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Introduction
Right to Rent has gone digital. Since 2022 the Home Office has phased out reliance on physical BRPs and pushed landlords to certified Identity Service Providers and the online share-code service. Done correctly, the entire check now takes ten minutes and produces audit-grade evidence. Here's the 2026 workflow.
Step 1: Identify the route
British or Irish citizen with a valid passport? Use a certified IDSP. Everyone else — EU settled status, BRP, BRC, eVisa, work visa, student visa? Use the gov.uk online checker with a share code.
Step 2: Choose a certified IDSP
Pick from the Home Office's certified list — currently Yoti, TrustID, Credas, IDVT and others. Costs range from £3–£12 per check. Most plug into letting-agent CRMs; landlords can use the consumer apps directly.
Step 3: The IDSP workflow
You enter the prospective tenant's email; they download the app, scan their passport NFC chip with their phone, take a liveness video and submit. You receive a signed PDF showing the document, biometric match and the IDSP's certification statement, normally within 15 minutes.
Step 4: Share-code checks
The tenant generates a share code at gov.uk/prove-right-to-rent and gives it to you (it starts with the letter R and is valid for 90 days). You enter it at gov.uk/view-right-to-rent with their date of birth and download the resulting PDF showing photo, status and any expiry date.
Step 5: Save the evidence
Save each PDF with the tenant's name and date in your tenancy file. Cloud storage with access controls is fine but be mindful of UK GDPR — this is immigration data and must not be shared with contractors, guarantors or other tenants.
Step 6: Diarise follow-ups
If the result shows time-limited leave, set a calendar reminder for one month before expiry. Repeat the check before that date. If the tenant loses the right to rent you must report this online to keep your statutory excuse.
Common mistakes
Accepting a screenshot of the share-code result instead of running it yourself; missing a follow-up check; failing to check unnamed adult occupiers; not keeping evidence beyond the tenancy. Any of these can lose the statutory excuse and trigger a civil penalty.
Final word
If you'd like Smart Sleep Property to handle this — or any other landlord compliance work — for you, our concierge service covers everything from referencing and right-to-rent to full tenancy management across Norwich and Norfolk.
Frequently asked questions
What is the key rule for digital right to rent check?+
Since April 2022, landlords have used certified Identity Service Providers (IDSPs) to verify British and Irish citizens' passports remotely, and the Home Office online checker for everyone else via a 'R'-prefix share code. Manual document checks are still permitted but increasingly the exception. Ke
Does this apply across England?+
Yes — the rules in this guide apply to England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have separate but broadly similar regimes.
Where can I get help?+
Smart Sleep Property offers compliance support, document templates and full management for Norwich and Norfolk landlords.
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