For landlords

What happens if I get a Right to Rent check wrong?

Guide · about 26 min read · Covers the law in England as at October 2026 · Reviewed on 31 October 2026

A civil penalty can follow, but only where two things are true: that section 22 of the Immigration Act 2014 was contravened, meaning an adult disqualified by their immigration status was authorised to occupy the premises, and that the landlord has no statutory excuse.

A defective check is not itself the breach.

Section 24 gives a landlord that excuse where the prescribed requirements were complied with before the residential agreement was entered into, or where an agent is responsible. For an occupier who is overseas and arranging accommodation in advance, it is the code, not the section, that allows the check before they take up occupation. The code of practice in force since 1 October 2026 sets the checks and the amounts.

This guide covers England only, and it is general information and not legal advice. This guide is about the civil penalty only. Section 33A of the same Act, added by the Immigration Act 2016, separately makes it an offence for a landlord in England to let to a disqualified adult knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that they are disqualified, so a civil penalty is not the only consequence. Right to Rent is the landlord's own statutory responsibility. VEYLO X is a software platform for renting and letting in England. It does not carry out these checks and takes no view on the result, and a landlord can keep their own dated record of what was done and when. There is more on how VEYLO X works for landlords.

One thing to settle before reading on. The code of practice was replaced on 1 October 2026 by its seventh version, and the sixth version, dated 13 February 2024, is still served on the same GOV.UK publication page. Everything below follows the 1 October 2026 code, which was brought into force by article 13 of S.I. 2014/2874 as substituted by regulation 4(8) of S.I. 2026/700. Which version applies is a question about dates: the code states that right to rent checks carried out in the prescribed manner before this code had effect will be considered in line with the version in force when the check was made, while the penalty ceiling that applies turns on when the contravention happened. The worked example further down is dated for that reason.

I have just received a Civil Penalty Notice. What are the deadlines?

Two of them start with the notice and run alongside each other, and the third follows the objection stage rather than running with it. All are counted in days, so the notice belongs on the desk the day it arrives.

21 calendar days for the Fast Payment Option, a 30 per cent reduction, counted from the Civil Penalty Notice or the Objection Outcome Notice being issued. It is available for first breach penalties only and allows no instalments. The code says a landlord who objects before the deadline in the Civil Penalty Notice stays eligible for it, so objecting and taking the reduction are not an either or choice.

28 days for a notice of objection, on the grounds in section 29(1) of the Immigration Act 2014. Both sources say 28 days and fix the start differently: the code says 28 calendar days from the due date in the notice, and article 11 of S.I. 2014/2874 says 28 days beginning with the date the notice gives as the date it was given. This article does not resolve which governs, and a landlord who works to the later of the two may be out of time on the earlier.

28 days from the relevant date for an appeal. Under section 30(5) an appeal can be brought only by a recipient who has already given a notice of objection, so letting the objection deadline pass closes the appeal with it. Section 30(7) to (9) fixes the relevant date three ways.

All three are set out in full under Can I object to a penalty once it has been issued, and the Fast Payment Option figures under How much is the penalty. Because the start of the objection period is the one point the sources disagree on, this is a point to take advice on the day the notice arrives.

What exactly does the law say I must not do?

Section 22 of the Immigration Act 2014 prohibits a landlord from authorising an adult to occupy premises under a residential tenancy agreement where that adult is disqualified from occupying them because of their immigration status. That is the duty a penalty attaches to, and section 23 is what lets the Secretary of State serve the notice.

The duty is about who occupies the property, not about whose name is on the paperwork. The code of practice, issued under section 32, applies the checks to every adult who will use the property as their only or main home, whether or not they are named on the tenancy. A person who moves in alongside the tenant is inside the scheme even though no document carries their name.

Whether a particular occupier is disqualified is a matter of that person's immigration status, and this article does not answer it. Questions about any individual's immigration position are for the Home Office or a qualified immigration adviser.

When does the check have to be done?

Generally, before the residential tenancy agreement is entered into, subject to the overseas prospective occupier arrangements described below. Where the right to rent is time limited there is a further 28 day window, and the two sources fix its start differently: the code counts 28 calendar days back from the tenancy start date, while article 8 of S.I. 2014/2874 sets the period as 28 days ending on the day before the day the agreement is entered into.

The Home Office Landlord's guide dated 1 October 2026 also uses the date the residential tenancy agreement is entered into when it explains this 28 day period, so it is the code's reference to the tenancy start date that stands apart. This article does not resolve how those statements apply to a particular agreement. The code separately gives two answers on timing, because what it requires depends on which kind of right to rent the person has.

Where the person has an unlimited right to rent, the code says the check "may be undertaken at any time before the residential agreement is entered into". Where the right to rent is time limited, the check "must be undertaken and recorded no earlier than 28 calendar days" before the tenancy start date, and the code is explicit that those 28 days include weekends and bank holidays. The statutory source differs in two ways and a landlord should know both.

Section 24(4) imposes a prescribed period only where compliance discloses that a relevant occupier has a limited right to rent, and article 8 of S.I. 2014/2874 sets that period as 28 days ending on the day before the day on which the residential tenancy agreement is entered into, not 28 days before the start date. Where an agreement is signed well ahead of the start date those two windows may not overlap. This article does not resolve which governs, and it is a point to take advice on before signing early. Either way a time limited check done too early is as much a problem as one done too late.

There is one exception in the code for a prospective occupier who is overseas and arranging accommodation in advance. In that case the landlord may check their right to rent "before they take up occupation of the property" instead of before the tenancy starts.

How much is the penalty?

£5,000 or £10,000 for a lodger, and £10,000 or £20,000 for an occupier, the higher figure in each pair being for a repeat breach within three years. Those are the levels the code sets, by category and by whether there has been a previous breach in the last three years, and it presents them as the amounts applied for each category rather than as maximums, so they are set out below as the code sets them. Behind them, section 23(2) of the Immigration Act 2014 leaves the amount to the Secretary of State subject to a ceiling of £20,000, that figure having been substituted by the Immigration Act 2014 (Residential Accommodation) (Maximum Penalty) Order 2024, S.I. 2024/81, article 2(2).

Category	First breach in three years	Repeat breach within three years
Lodger	£5,000	£10,000
Occupier	£10,000	£20,000

A lodger, for the lodger figure, is someone who rents a room in accommodation they share with their landlord. An occupier is anyone authorised to occupy the property under the tenancy, named on it or not. A household is not one penalty: section 28(3) allows a separate penalty notice for each adult disqualified by their immigration status in relation to whom there is a contravention, and the code states the reduced figures per occupier. Section 28(5) runs the other way, barring a notice in respect of an adult who ceased to occupy the premises 12 months or more ago, subject to the exception in section 28(6).

There is a Fast Payment Option, which the code also calls the Faster Payment Option and abbreviates to FPO, and it reduces a penalty by 30 per cent. It is available for first breach penalties only, where payment is made within 21 calendar days of the Civil Penalty Notice being issued, or of the Objection Outcome Notice being issued, and instalments are not allowed under it. On the figures above, £5,000 becomes £3,500 and £10,000 becomes £7,000.

What is a statutory excuse, and how do I get one?

It is the defence to a civil penalty, and it is established by carrying out the prescribed checks on every adult occupier in time and keeping the record of them. Section 24 of the Immigration Act 2014 is the provision it comes from, and it does not run as one formula. For a pre-grant contravention, section 24(2) excuses the landlord who shows either that the prescribed requirements were complied with before the residential agreement was entered into or that an agent is responsible under section 25(2), and section 24(5) withdraws both where the landlord knew that entering into the agreement would contravene section 22.

For a post-grant contravention, section 24(6) gives three separate alternatives, any one of which is enough: notifying the Secretary of State as soon as reasonably practicable, an agent being responsible, or the eligibility period of the limited right occupier not having expired. An agent who has accepted responsibility in writing has the equivalent excuse under section 26.

Two words in section 24(2) carry weight. Prescribed means what the prescribing legislation requires, which is the Immigration (Residential Accommodation) (Prescribed Requirements and Codes of Practice) Order 2014, S.I. 2014/2874, as amended, most recently by S.I. 2026/700 with effect from 1 October 2026; the code explains those requirements but does not itself prescribe them. It is not any look at a document. Before means before the agreement was entered into, with two qualifications the code makes: where the right to rent is time limited the check must be no earlier than 28 calendar days before the start date, and where a prospective occupier is overseas and arranging accommodation in advance the check may instead come before they take up occupation.

The code puts the burden plainly: "It is the landlord's responsibility to demonstrate" compliance. It also states that a report to the Home Office cannot retrospectively create an excuse for a missed initial check. That is about the initial check only, and it does not displace the reporting step set out below, which is how a time limited excuse is kept once a proper initial check has been made.

Who do I have to check, and who do I not?

Every adult aged 18 or over who will use the property as their only or main home, whether or not they are named on the tenancy, where the letting is inside the scheme. Scope is set by section 20: there has to be a right of occupation for residential use, provision for payment of rent, and the agreement must not be an excluded agreement of a description in Schedule 3. The code's list of exclusions runs to social housing, local authority arrangements, accommodation provided under immigration provisions, care homes, hospitals, hospices, hostels, refuges, mobile homes under the Mobile Homes Act 1983, tied accommodation, student accommodation and long leases. Whether a particular letting is excluded is a question about that agreement and this article does not answer it.

The code says "The Scheme does not apply to children", and a landlord may treat someone as a child where they are "reasonably satisfied" that the person is under 18. When a child turns 18 during the tenancy no check is needed at that point, but where follow up checks are due for existing occupiers, the now adult should be included then.

Because the duty covers occupiers and not signatories, a landlord has to establish who is actually going to live there. Section 22(6) makes this more than record keeping, within a narrow scope. It applies only to the pre-grant case in section 22(4)(c), an adult not named in the agreement who is disqualified at the time of entry. For that case there is a contravention only if reasonable enquiries were not made of the tenant, before entering into the agreement, as to the relevant occupiers, or those enquiries were made and it was, or should have been, apparent from them that the adult in question was likely to be a relevant occupier. The test is not limited to what the landlord actually knew.

A relevant occupier is defined in section 22(10) as any adult who occupies premises under the agreement, named in it or not. Section 22(6) is not a defence to the separate post-grant case in section 22(5), where an occupier with a limited right to rent later becomes disqualified and stays. Agreeing the list of adult occupiers in writing can evidence that enquiries were made, but it does not establish that they were reasonable, and under section 32(3)(b) the code may give guidance on what enquiries a landlord should make. See the documents needed before letting a property for what else belongs in that pack.

How do I make sure I am not treating people differently?

By carrying out the same checks, in the same way, for every adult occupier, including British citizens. There is a separate GOV.UK code of practice on avoiding unlawful discrimination when conducting right to rent checks, also dated 1 October 2026, and it belongs alongside the main code.

The scheme's own requirement points the same way. Because the check applies to every adult occupier, there is no version of it that involves deciding in advance who looks as though they need checking.

How do I actually carry out the check?

The code sets out three routes, a manual document check, a Home Office online check using a share code, and a check by a registered RtR DVSP, and which one is open depends on the person. Where none of the three is available, the Landlord Checking Service is the Home Office fallback: the code lists the circumstances, including an outstanding application, appeal or administrative review, a digital status error, an asylum claim, and a share code that cannot be generated or produced. The code says to delay entering into the agreement until the Service responds, that it answers yes or no within two working days with a unique reference number which has to be kept, and that a Positive Right to Rent Notice gives a statutory excuse for 12 months.

Article 6 of S.I. 2014/2874 adds that if the Service does not respond within 48 hours, excluding weekends and the listed holidays, the landlord may proceed as though a Positive Right to Rent Notice had been issued. On the provider route the code limits what can be checked to a valid British or Irish passport or passport card, including up to six months past expiry, and to List A and List B documents supplied to the provider digitally by or on behalf of the issuer, with passive authentication required for an expired passport. Where the individual has an eVisa the code says landlords "must" use the Home Office online service, and a manual document check is available only "where permitted".

A manual check means inspecting original List A or List B documents with the person present, in person or by video, and satisfying yourself that the documents are genuine, that the person is the rightful holder, and that the photographs and dates of birth are consistent. On a false document, the code makes a landlord liable only where it is "reasonably apparent" that it is false, which it defines by reference to an untrained person examining the document carefully but briefly and without technological aids. That limit is about the document and nothing else. It does not cure a check that was never done, was done outside the time limits, or left no evidence, and the code lists those as separate ways a landlord ends up with no statutory excuse.

The Home Office online check uses the GOV.UK service with a share code. The landlord has to satisfy themselves that the photograph relates to the person, in person, by video, or through a digital verification service provider's facial recognition. The code says it is "not sufficient" to view the occupier's own "Prove your right to rent" details, so a screenshot the applicant sends is not the check. There is more on that route in what a Right to Rent share code is, and the tenant's side of the same process in how Right to Rent works for tenants.

The third route uses a right to rent digital verification service provider, which the code calls an RtR DVSP. The provider has to be registered with a note confirming it can provide right to rent checks, which the code calls the OFDIA register and the Order calls the DVS register, kept under section 32 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

Using a provider is optional as a route, but not for every step: the code, and articles 5(2) and 5B(2) of S.I. 2014/2874 inserted with effect from 1 October 2026, require that where a landlord relies on digital facial recognition technology, on any route, it must be provided by an RtR DVSP, and that the comparison be kept securely with a copy of the document checked. The landlord still has to satisfy themselves that the photograph and the biographic details on the output, such as date of birth, match the person.

What if the person's permission to be in the UK runs out?

A follow up check has to be carried out where the right to rent is time limited, because the statutory excuse is time limited where the permission is, with one group excepted from that general rule for as long as the sources disagree: for holders of EUSS settled or pre-settled status the code, the guide and the Act do not say the same thing about whether a repeat check is needed at all, and this article does not resolve it.

That group needs care before the general rule is applied. The Landlord's guide dated 1 October 2026 says that for holders of EUSS pre-settled or settled status a check is required only before the tenancy begins and no repeat checks are required, and both the code and the guide define a relevant national as including a person with settled or pre-settled status granted under the EUSS, which matches section 21(5)(ab) of the Immigration Act 2014.

The body of the code nonetheless places valid permission to stay "including pre-settled status" in the time limited category. This article does not resolve that, and whether any individual holds EUSS status at all is a question for the Home Office or a qualified immigration adviser. The two approaches carry different risks. An unnecessary follow up check may involve additional processing of personal data and inconvenience for the occupier, while omitting a legally required follow up check may affect the landlord's statutory excuse.

This article does not determine which requirement applies to an individual EUSS holder. Landlords should check the applicable Home Office guidance and obtain advice where the position is unclear, without applying different checking practices on the basis of nationality. A time limited excuse lasts until the latest of three dates: 12 months from the check, the expiry of the person's permission to be in the UK, or the expiry of the document that evidenced it. The code calls the longest of those three the eligibility period.

Because the period is the latest of the three, the date it ends has to be worked out for each person. Take an occupier checked on 1 June 2026, whose permission to be in the UK ends on 30 September 2026, using a document valid until 31 December 2026. The three dates are 1 June 2027, 30 September 2026 and 31 December 2026, and the latest is 1 June 2027, so that is the date the follow up check comes before. Those figures illustrate the arithmetic and are not a statement about any real case.

The follow up check must happen before the excuse expires, and the code notes that a late check may require an explanation. If the occupier cannot show a continued right to rent, the landlord must report to the Home Office to maintain the excuse.

How long do I have to keep the records?

For a Home Office online check, the evidence is kept for the duration of the tenancy and one year after it ends, and then securely destroyed. For a provider check, a clear copy is kept for the same period. For a manual check, the code requires copies to be kept securely and the date of the check recorded without stating a period, but the period is prescribed elsewhere: article 5(1)(i) of S.I. 2014/2874 requires a clear and legible copy to be retained securely for not less than one year after the residential tenancy agreement has come to an end, and articles 5ZB(2)(b) and 5B(1)(d) set the same minimum for the provider and online routes.

What a landlord is holding here is personal data about the occupier, and the code asks for secure storage throughout and, for the Home Office online check, for secure destruction at the end of the period it sets. It sets no destruction step in those terms for the provider or the manual route. The separate Landlord's guide to right to rent checks dated 1 October 2026 is wider: under "Retention requirements" it says all evidence relied on to establish or maintain a statutory excuse must be retained securely for the duration of the tenancy agreement and for at least one year after it comes to an end, and that the records must then be securely destroyed.

The code's wording is route by route, the guide's is general, and the guide is guidance rather than the prescribing instrument. The wider question of how long a landlord's other paperwork has to be held is covered in what records a landlord should keep.

A record that cannot be dated is weaker than one that can, because the excuse under section 24 turns on when the check happened.

What if my letting agent was supposed to do it?

Section 25 of the Immigration Act 2014 allows the Secretary of State to serve a penalty notice on a letting agent, and section 26 sets out the agent's statutory excuse. Section 25(2) makes an agent responsible only where the agent acts in the course of a business and, under arrangements made in writing, was under an obligation to comply with the prescribed requirements on the landlord's behalf.

Whether a particular set of terms of business transferred that responsibility is a question about those terms, and this article does not answer it. It is a point to read the agreement on, and to take advice on if it is unclear, because the answer decides who the penalty notice goes to.

Which excuse has to be demonstrated follows from that answer, subject to one statutory limit. Where the agent is responsible in that sense, section 24(2)(b) excuses the landlord and it is the agent's excuse under section 26 that is in issue. Where they did not, it is the landlord's own excuse under section 24(2)(a), and a landlord who cannot obtain the records from an agent is in a weak position to demonstrate it.

Neither route helps a landlord who knew: section 24(5) withdraws both of the pre-grant excuses, the agent one included, where the landlord knew that entering into the agreement would contravene section 22. Section 26(5) does the same to the agent's excuse where the agent knew the landlord would contravene section 22, had a sufficient opportunity to say so before the agreement was entered into, and did not. A right to copies on request belongs in writing from the start either way, because the records are the evidence whoever has to produce them.

Can I object to a penalty once it has been issued?

Yes. The grounds, under section 29(1) of the Immigration Act 2014, are that the landlord is not liable, that the landlord is excused by virtue of section 24 or 26, or that the amount of the penalty is too high. The deadline has two different starting points in the two sources. The code says within 28 calendar days of the due date in the Civil Penalty Notice.

Article 11 of the Immigration (Residential Accommodation) (Prescribed Requirements and Codes of Practice) Order 2014, S.I. 2014/2874, says 28 days beginning with the date the notice itself specifies as the date on which it is given, and section 28(2)(d) requires the notice to set a payment date at least 28 days after that date. This article does not resolve which of those governs and nothing here decides it for any particular notice. A landlord who works to the later of the two may be out of time on the earlier, so this is a point to take advice on the day the notice arrives.

Under section 30(5) an appeal can be brought only by a recipient who has already given a notice of objection, so missing the objection stage closes the appeal as well. Section 30(6) gives 28 days beginning with the relevant date, and section 30(7) to (9) fixes that date three ways: the date on the new Civil Penalty Notice where the penalty was increased, the date on the notice of the decision where it was reduced or no action was taken, and, where no decision was given in time, the day the Secretary of State's decision period ends.

That period is 28 days beginning with the date the notice of objection was given, under article 12 of S.I. 2014/2874, but section 29(6)(a) lets the Secretary of State agree a longer period with the recipient, which moves the appeal deadline with it. On an appeal the court may uphold, cancel or reduce the penalty. Costs are not automatic either way: the code warns that where the appeal does not succeed the court may order the landlord to pay the Home Office's reasonable costs of defending it, and under CPR 44.2 the court has a discretion, the general rule being that the unsuccessful party pays while the court may order otherwise having regard to conduct and to partial success. Succeeding is therefore not a guarantee against a costs order.

Both stages are measured in days, so the notice belongs on the desk the day it arrives, next to the file of checks.

What do I need to do, in order?

Establish the adult occupiers, check each of them in time by the route the code opens for them, diary the follow up date, and keep the dated record. In full, for a letting that has not been granted yet, the code's requirements run in this order.

Establish every adult who will use the property as their only or main home, named on the agreement or not.
Work out, for each of them, whether the right to rent is unlimited or time limited, because that sets when the check can be done.
Carry out the check by the route the code opens for that person, before the agreement is entered into, and no earlier than 28 calendar days before the start date where the right is time limited. Where the person is overseas and arranging accommodation in advance, the code allows the check before they take up occupation instead.
Note, for anyone whose right is time limited, the latest of the three dates that sets the eligibility period.
Keep the copies or the digital evidence securely, with the date of the check recorded, for not less than one year after the agreement comes to an end as S.I. 2014/2874 prescribes, and, for the Home Office online check, securely destroy it at the end of the period the code sets.
Carry out the follow up check before the excuse expires, and report to the Home Office if a continued right to rent cannot be shown or an existing occupier will not take part in the process. The guide says the report must be made as soon as reasonably practicable after becoming aware, and before the existing time limited excuse expires, and that a report made in the prescribed manner generates a unique reference number which has to be kept as evidence that the excuse continues.

Anything that turns on an individual's immigration status, or on what a particular agency agreement says, sits outside that list and is for the Home Office, a qualified immigration adviser, or your own adviser.

Common questions

Does checking the tenant cover everyone living in the property?

No. The code of practice applies the check to every adult aged 18 or over who will use the property as their only or main home, whether or not they are named on the tenancy. A check on the person who signs the agreement therefore says nothing about another adult who moves in with them, and section 28(3) allows a separate penalty notice for each disqualified adult, so the figures work out per person and not per tenancy. That is why establishing who is actually going to occupy the property, before the agreement is entered into, or before they take up occupation where the code's overseas exception applies, is the step the statutory excuse under section 24 of the Immigration Act 2014 depends on. Where an occupier is added later, the position is worth putting to an adviser.

What if I did the check after the agreement was signed?

Section 24 of the Immigration Act 2014 ties the statutory excuse to the prescribed requirements having been complied with before the agreement was entered into, so the timing is part of the excuse. The code also says a report to the Home Office cannot retrospectively create an excuse for a missed initial check. If the agreement is already signed, two things still matter. A late check is worth doing, because section 22 is contravened only where an adult who is in fact disqualified by their immigration status was authorised to occupy the premises; where the check shows that nobody in the property is disqualified there is no contravention and so no penalty, however late the paperwork was. Where it shows that someone may be disqualified, that is the point at which to take advice. Different provisions govern from there: section 24(6)'s alternatives apply to the post-grant case, where an occupier with a limited right to rent later becomes disqualified, not to a missed initial check, and section 33A creates a criminal offence that turns on knowledge. What follows in any particular case depends on facts this article does not have. For a letting not yet granted, complete the checks first, within the timing rules above, including the code's exception for an occupier who is overseas and arranging accommodation in advance.

Do I have to check a British citizen?

Yes, if they are an adult who will use the property as their only or main home, because the code applies the check to every such adult and does not carve out any nationality. The separate GOV.UK code of practice on avoiding unlawful discrimination when conducting right to rent checks, also dated 1 October 2026, sits alongside it, and taken together the two point to one process applied the same way to everybody, not a judgement made in advance about who needs checking. Which documents a particular person can produce is a matter for the List A and List B document lists in the code. Anything turning on an individual's immigration status is for the Home Office or a qualified immigration adviser.

How soon do I have to act on a civil penalty notice?

Quickly, because every stage runs in days. The Fast Payment Option, a 30 per cent reduction for first breach penalties only, requires payment within 21 calendar days of the Civil Penalty Notice or the Objection Outcome Notice being issued, and allows no instalments. An objection is made in writing on the grounds in section 29(1) of that Act, and the deadline needs care: the code says 28 calendar days from the due date in the notice, while article 11 of S.I. 2014/2874 says 28 days beginning with the date the notice gives as the date it was given. This article does not resolve which governs, and working to the later date may be out of time on the earlier. Under section 30(5) only a landlord who has already objected can appeal, and section 30(6) to (9) gives 28 days from the relevant date: the date on the new Civil Penalty Notice, the date on the objection decision, or the day the decision period ends where none came. Costs are in the court's discretion under CPR 44.2: an unsuccessful landlord may be ordered to pay the Home Office's reasonable costs, and succeeding is not a guarantee against an order.

Sources

The primary sources behind this guide. Where the law and a summary disagree, the law is what counts.

This article is general information, not legal advice. It covers England only and reflects the position as at October 2026. For your own situation, take advice, and consider free advice from Citizens Advice or Shelter.

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