Right to Rent Checks: When Discrimination Is Illegal

The Home Office requires landlords in England to verify that every adult tenant has the legal right to live in the UK before a tenancy starts. That rule applies to every prospective tenant, without exception.

There are three approved methods for doing this:

• Home Office Online Service: For tenants with a digital immigration status, such as an eVisa or EU Settlement Scheme status, using a share code the tenant generates themselves.
• Identity Service Providers (IDSP): For British and Irish citizens, using government-certified digital identity verification software.
• Manual checks: Inspecting original documents in person or via live video for tenants who don't have a digital status.

Landlords who complete any of these correctly get what the Home Office calls a 'statutory excuse'. That means if it later turns out a tenant had no right to rent, the landlord won't face a civil penalty, provided the check was done properly.

The statutory excuse is the thing landlords most misunderstand. They think refusing non-British tenants protects them from fines. It doesn't. Using any of the three approved methods, for any tenant with any immigration status, achieves the same legal protection. Refusing someone because they don't have a British passport doesn't reduce a landlord's legal risk. It just adds a discrimination claim on top.

The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination in the provision of services and in housing on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, and national origin. A landlord who checks only tenants with foreign-sounding names, or refuses to accept a BRP card or share code, or asks only certain applicants to prove their status, is discriminating on grounds of race and nationality. That is unlawful regardless of whether they thought they were following immigration rules.

The pattern is predictable. A landlord sees a non-British name on an application and asks for 'additional documents' they never requested from other applicants. Or they say they 'prefer' tenants with a British passport. Or they simply stop responding once they realise the applicant will need to use the online verification service rather than handing over a physical passport. Each of these is discriminatory in practice, even if the landlord never uses an explicitly racist phrase.

Enforcement penalties for right to rent non-compliance have risen sharply: civil penalties exceeded £4.2 million between late 2024 and mid-2025, a sevenfold increase from the prior year. The Home Office's answer to rising discrimination concerns is a new statutory code of practice expected in October 2026, which would mandate equal treatment regardless of which verification method a tenant uses. Critics, including the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, argue the code does not fix the underlying incentive: a policy that encourages risk-averse landlords to avoid anyone who looks like they might be complicated.

The code matters. But it doesn't change what the law already says. Under the Equality Act 2010, selective checking based on a protected characteristic has been unlawful since the checks were introduced.

To be specific about what is and isn't permitted:

Landlords cannot:

• Refuse to rent to someone because they don't have a British passport
• Apply checks only to tenants with foreign-sounding names or accents
• Ask for more documents from non-white applicants than from white applicants
• Decline to accept a valid share code or BRP card and insist on a passport instead
• Treat someone's need to use the online verification service as grounds for rejection

Landlords must:

• Apply the same verification process to every adult tenant
• Accept all documents from the official GOV.UK approved lists
• Process applications from British citizens and foreign nationals through an equivalent procedure

The Home Office's own guidance makes this clear. The checks are not a filtering mechanism. They are an administrative process that every tenant goes through, and every compliant verification method carries equal legal weight.

If you were refused a tenancy and you have reason to believe your nationality, name, or skin colour was a factor, you have a potential claim under the Equality Act 2010. The burden of proof in discrimination cases works differently from most civil claims: if you can show facts that suggest discrimination occurred, the landlord must then demonstrate it didn't. You don't have to prove intent.

The first thing to do is document everything. Keep copies of emails, screenshots of messages, records of what you were told and when. If you were asked for documents that other applicants weren't asked for, make a note of that too. Evidence gathered at the time is worth far more than a recollection written weeks later.

Your options from there:

Report to your local council. Local authorities have enforcement powers under the Equality Act 2010 and can investigate landlords who discriminate. You can also report to the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS), which provides free guidance on equality law and can help you understand whether your experience meets the legal threshold.

File a formal complaint with the letting agent's redress scheme. If the discrimination happened through an agent rather than a private landlord, the agent will be a member of either the Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme. A complaint there can result in a formal finding against the agent and, in some cases, compensation.

Bring a civil claim under the Equality Act 2010. This goes to the County Court, not a housing tribunal. You can claim compensation for financial loss and for injury to feelings. Injury to feelings awards in housing discrimination cases typically range from a few hundred pounds to several thousand, depending on severity.

Write a formal letter before action. Before going to court, a letter that sets out the facts, the legal basis, and what you want puts the landlord on notice and often produces a response. Remedy Legal can help you draft that letter through its AI-drafted letter tool, referencing the specific provisions of the Equality Act 2010 that apply to your situation.

Don't let time slip. Equality Act claims in the County Court must be brought within six months of the discriminatory act.

No, and a landlord who tells you it does is wrong about the law.

The online Home Office service handles most cases that don't involve a British or Irish passport. If you have an eVisa or EU Settlement Scheme status, you generate a share code at gov.uk/view-prove-immigration-status, give it to the landlord, and they check it online in minutes. The process is faster than inspecting physical documents, not slower.

British and Irish citizens who don't have a passport can use a driving licence, a birth certificate plus national insurance confirmation, or other documents from the GOV.UK list. There is no requirement to hold a passport. A landlord who insists on one is either misinformed or finding a pretext.

For tenants in more complex immigration situations, such as those with leave to remain under a physical biometric residence permit (BRP), the manual check process exists precisely for them. The landlord inspects the BRP, takes a copy, and records the date. That's it. They have their statutory excuse.

The friction that some landlords claim exists in checking non-British documents is largely invented. The Home Office has made the online system available specifically to remove barriers. If a landlord tells you their process is too complicated to accommodate your documents, ask them to show you which GOV.UK guidance they're following. They probably can't.

Remedy Legal was built for situations where a renter knows something is wrong but doesn't know where to start. Right to rent discrimination is a good example. The legal framework is clear, but the path from 'I think I was discriminated against' to 'I filed a complaint and received a response' involves several steps most people haven't taken before.

Through Remedy's free instant situation assessment, you can share the key details of what happened and get a clear picture of your options, with no jargon and no paid consultation required. If a formal letter to the landlord or letting agent is the right move, Remedy can draft one referencing the Equality Act 2010 provisions that apply. If the route is a council report or an ombudsman complaint, Remedy's council and ombudsman filing support covers that too.

For tenants who want expert involvement, Remedy's top-tier plan includes a 30-minute consultation with a human expert and ongoing document review throughout the process. The no-win-no-fee model means you don't pay if the claim doesn't succeed.

Right to rent checks discrimination affects UK tenants at the very first stage of getting a home. Remedy is set up to help you respond to that, from drafting the initial letter to preparing any evidence bundle needed for a formal complaint.

You can also read more about UK tenant rights and how to spot landlord violations and how to report a landlord to the council in related guides on the Remedy blog.