Rent and Credit > How to prove your right to rent in the UK

How to prove your right to rent in the UK

Wollit Team3 minute read · Updated 23rd September 2024

If you want to rent a home in England, you need to show your landlord that you have the right to live in the UK. This is called proving your "right to rent." Here is how it works and what documents you need.

What is “Right to Rent”?

Right to Rent is a law in England that requires landlords to check if their tenants have permission to live in the UK before renting out a property.

This law basically is meant to prevent illegal immigration and to make sure that only people who are allowed to stay in the UK can rent homes.

Who needs to prove their right to rent?

You usually need to prove your right to rent if you’re in these situations:

You are renting a property in England.
And you are not a British or Irish citizen.
And you have a visa or residency status that has an expiry date.

How can you prove my right to rent?

How you prove your right to rent depends on your nationality and immigration status:

If you are a British or Irish citizen, proving your right to rent is usually straightforward. All you need to do is to show your British or Irish passport. It doesn’t even need to be current – even an expired passport can do. If you don’t have a passport, a birth certificate, driving licence, or certificate of naturalisation also works.
If you are not a British or Irish citizen, the easiest way is to get a “share code” online. Your landlord can use this code along with your date of birth to check your immigration status online.

What if I don't have any documents?

If you don’t have any documents proving your right to rent, you need to talk to your landlord as soon as you can. Your landlord can request a check from the Home Office. They will look into whether you have the right to rent based on their records.

Can my landlord refuse my application?

Your landlord cannot refuse your application just because you provided immigration documents instead of a share code. They must accept any valid proof of your right to rent.

However, if you can’t prove your right to rent, they have to reject your application – you won’t be able to rent there.

How long does my right to rent last?

If your permission to stay in the UK has an expiry date, your landlord must do follow-up checks either within one year or when your visa ends, whichever is later. They have to stay compliant with the law.

Why is proving my right to rent important?

Besides the obvious fact that without proving this right you won’t be able to rent, there are a few other reasons:

Landlords must check your immigration status before renting out to you. Failing to do so can lead them into legal trouble.
If you're found not eligible for renting due to lack of proof, you could be evicted
Also, if you've had issues proving your right before, it may affect how landlords view future applications.

This can affect not only your future rental applications but applications for other kinds of things, too, like mobile phone contracts, credit cards, and even mortgages.

Basically, if you can’t secure housing because you have issues proving your right to rent, it could affect where you live and how much rent you pay. Consistently paying rent on time helps build a history of on-time payments, which can come in handy when applying for loans or mortgages later on.

It might also be tempting to crash over at a friend’s, or stay in Airbnbs. But sometimes, not having a fixed address can even mean that you can’t even open a bank account – another way your credit history never gets started. And credit history matters quite a bit in the UK – it’s what lenders and even some letting agencies look at.

This is why it’s so important to get your credit history started as soon as you move to the UK. One of the ways to do this is by downloading a credit-building app like Wollit.

Wollit works by reporting a fixed fee monthly subscription as a loan repayment to the credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion). This helps you build or rebuild your credit history by showing that you can pay debt on time. It can even report your monthly rent payment to Experian, adding another line in your credit report that shows lenders you're responsible and pay your bills when they’re due.