Landlords in England could soon face clearer anti-discrimination rules when carrying out Right to Rent checks, after the Home Office opened a consultation on changes to its statutory code of practice.
The consultation, published on 15 April and open until 29 April, proposes a tighter version of the guidance landlords and letting agents must follow when checking whether a prospective tenant has the legal right to rent in England. The key change is practical: applicants should not be treated less favourably because of how they prove their status, including where they use physical documents instead of the Home Office online service.
Home Office targets unfair treatment in tenant checks
The draft code also makes clear that landlords and agents should not discriminate against people with a time-limited right to rent. That matters because some applicants can lawfully rent in England but still face extra barriers if landlords assume temporary immigration status means extra risk or extra admin.
The Right to Rent scheme has applied in England since the Immigration Act 2014. Landlords must check the status of all adult occupiers before a tenancy starts or risk a civil penalty. The draft update does not remove that duty. Instead, it aims to narrow how those checks are carried out so landlords can comply without sliding into unlawful race discrimination, as set out in the Home Office consultation.
Another proposed change is a sharper rule on digital checks. Where landlords or agents use a digital verification service, the service would need to be certified. The draft also refreshes wording around eVisas, digital identity checks and other process changes that have built up since the code was last updated.
Why timing matters before October changes
The Home Office says it expects to bring the updated code into force in October 2026 through secondary legislation, with consultation responses helping shape the final wording. For landlords, that gives only a short runway to review referencing processes, staff scripts and any outsourced tenant-checking tools.
This follows Landlord Knowledge’s report on Right to Rent bias claims under the new code, which flagged the legal risk around blanket assumptions in immigration checks. It also sits alongside Landlord Knowledge’s recent coverage of Propertymark’s warning on paperwork before 1 May, where anti-discrimination duties were one of the practical change areas landlords were told not to ignore. The latest consultation suggests ministers are still refining how those duties will work in day-to-day lettings.
There is also a wider compliance point here. Many landlords have grown used to treating Right to Rent as a box-ticking exercise. The draft code points in the opposite direction. It puts more weight on how checks are requested, how options are presented to tenants and whether different applicants are being steered into different treatment for convenience.
For portfolio landlords using agents, the issue is not just what the agency says in public but what happens in branch-level practice. A landlord may still carry the consequences if a prospective tenant is treated unfairly during referencing or document checks carried out on the landlord’s behalf.
Landlords who rely heavily on manual checks may also need to make sure staff understand that a physical passport or immigration document cannot be downgraded simply because another applicant used a digital route. The scheme allows different lawful ways to prove status. The draft code is explicit that landlords should not build preference around one route if that preference creates discriminatory outcomes.
What this means for landlords
- If you use a letting agent: ask how Right to Rent checks are handled in practice, not just whether the agency says it is compliant.
- If you check tenants yourself: review application forms, scripts and document requests so applicants are offered lawful routes consistently.
- Watch for: the final code and any October implementation timetable, especially if you use digital verification tools.
- Check suppliers: any digital verification service used for Right to Rent work may need certification under the revised approach.
- Bottom line: compliance will depend as much on fair process as on completing the check itself.
Editor’s view
Right to Rent has always carried a built-in tension for landlords: they are asked to police immigration status while avoiding discriminatory behaviour. This draft does not remove that tension, but it does make one thing clearer – lazy process will be harder to defend.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 21 April 2026
Sources: Home Office, GOV.UK consultation documents
Related reading: Landlords face Right to Rent bias claims under new code
