Right to Rent changes from 1 October 2026

What letting agents need to know about the updated digital rules

Right to Rent rules change on 1 October 2026. The practical impact for most letting agents is limited, but the update covers more than recently expired passports.

The new code introduces a formal registration requirement for digital providers, expands and clarifies what they can do, recognises authoritatively issued digital documents and makes the timing rules easier to follow. The familiar manual, Home Office online and Landlord Checking Service routes remain available.

The changes at a glance

• British passports, Irish passports and Irish passport cards that expired no more than six months before the check can be used through the prescribed digital route.

• A digital provider used for a prescribed Right to Rent check must be certified and registered on the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes, or OfDIA, register for Right to Rent.

• The role of digital verification services is expanded and clarified, including the checks and facial recognition technology they can provide.

• The acceptable document lists now expressly include authoritatively issued digital versions that can be verified. An ordinary scan or photograph supplied by an applicant is not automatically an authoritatively issued digital document.

• The code gives clearer wording on when initial and follow up checks must be completed to establish or retain a statutory excuse.

The government has also simplified the guidance and adopted consistent terminology for digital verification services. Those drafting changes matter, but they do not create a new day to day process for most agencies.

Recently expired passports can be checked digitally

From 1 October, the prescribed digital identity route can use a British passport, Irish passport or Irish passport card that is current or expired by no more than six months.

Where an expired document is used, the digital provider must authenticate its cryptographic security features as part of the check. This expands the digital route. Until now, a British or Irish passport used for a digital Right to Rent check needed to be current and valid.

Expired passports were already accepted manually

An expired British or Irish passport was already capable of establishing a continuous statutory excuse through a correctly completed manual document check. The October change does not make expired passports acceptable for the first time. It allows a passport that expired within the last six months to be checked through the prescribed digital route.

That distinction matters. The six month limit applies to the digital provider route. The Home Office document list continues to describe British and Irish passports, including Irish passport cards, as acceptable for a manual check whether current or expired.

The agent still completes the final facial match

A successful digital document check does not remove the agent’s final responsibility. The agent must satisfy themselves that the photograph and biographic details on the completed Right to Rent report are consistent with the individual presenting for the tenancy.

In practical terms, the digital service checks the document and identity evidence. The agent then compares the applicant with the photograph and details shown on the report. This can be completed in person or by video call. Facial recognition technology may also be used, but it must be provided through a registered Right to Rent digital verification service.

The completed check should be retained securely for the duration of the tenancy and for one year after it ends.

Digital providers must be registered with OfDIA

Where an agent chooses the prescribed digital provider route, the service must be certified and appear on OfDIA’s digital verification services register with confirmation that it can provide Right to Rent checks.

The completed result should confirm that the service was registered and that the check was carried out in accordance with the Right to Rent supplementary code. This formalises the provider requirement. It does not make the use of a digital provider compulsory, as the other prescribed routes remain available.

Authoritatively issued digital documents

The updated List A and List B wording expressly includes digital versions of acceptable documents where they have been issued by, or on behalf of, the authoritative source and can be verified.

This should not be read as permission to treat any emailed scan or photograph as a digital original. Where a document is supplied digitally, the agent must take reasonable steps to verify its source and validity. The Home Office strongly encourages the use of a registered Right to Rent digital provider for the identity check where a digital document is relied upon.

Clearer timing for checks

The revised code does not introduce a new timing window, but it states the rules more clearly:

• A check for someone with an unlimited right to rent can be completed at any time before the residential agreement is entered into.

• A check for someone with a time limited right to rent must be completed and recorded no earlier than 28 calendar days before the tenancy start date.

• A follow up check is still required before a time limited right to rent, or the statutory excuse based on it, comes to an end.

What is not changing

For most teams, the existing process remains the same:

• Manual document checks, Home Office online checks using a share code and checks through a registered digital provider remain the three prescribed routes.

• Applicants with an eVisa must use the Home Office online service and provide a Right to Rent share code.

• The Landlord Checking Service remains available in the circumstances set out by the Home Office, including where status requires Home Office verification or a person cannot yet evidence an outstanding application, review or appeal digitally.

• Every adult who will occupy the property as their only or main home must be checked, whether or not they are named on the tenancy agreement.

• Time limited rights still require the correct timing and, where necessary, a follow up check.

• A check completed correctly before 1 October does not need to be repeated simply because the new code has taken effect.

A small change that should remove some friction

Applicants do not always realise that a passport has recently expired until they begin the referencing process. Under the current digital rules, that can interrupt an otherwise straightforward check and require an alternative route.

Allowing passports that expired within the previous six months to be checked digitally should make the process easier for those applicants without changing the wider responsibilities placed on agents.

Where Blinc fits

Blinc brings tenant referencing and Right to Rent checks into one process. We offer digital Right to Rent checks through a provider that is certified and registered with OfDIA for Right to Rent.

We also obtain and run Home Office share codes, use the Landlord Checking Service where the circumstances require it, and complete the appropriate Right to Rent status check where the prescribed digital provider route is not available.

The agent receives the completed evidence and remains responsible for comparing the applicant with the photograph and personal details shown on the Right to Rent report. For Blinc clients, the October update is therefore a limited but useful improvement rather than a wholesale change of process.

What letting agents should do now

• Make sure staff know that eligible British and Irish passports and Irish passport cards can be digitally checked for up to six months after expiry from 1 October.

• Check that any digital service used is certified and registered with OfDIA for Right to Rent.

• Keep the final comparison between the applicant and the report within the agency’s process.

• Continue using the Home Office online service, Landlord Checking Service or an appropriate status check where the digital provider route is not available.

• Treat only verifiable, authoritatively issued digital documents as digital originals, not ordinary scans or photographs.

• Do not repeat checks that were completed correctly before the new code came into force.

Important: This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Landlords and letting agents should refer to the current Home Office guidance and their own policies and procedures.