Right to Rent Share Codes: A Landlord’s Step-by-Step Guide
Most Right to Rent checks in 2026 don't involve a passport photocopy — they involve a nine-character share code and the government's online checking service. Here's exactly how the landlord side of that works, and the one piece of evidence you must save at the end.
Where Share Codes Fit in a Right to Rent Check
The obligation hasn't changed: before an adult occupies your property in England, you must check they have the right to rent, and keep evidence you did. What's changed is the mechanics. Tenants with digital immigration status — eVisas, EU settled or pre-settled status, biometric residence permit or card holders — prove their status with a share code instead of physical documents. British and Irish citizens are the big exception: they can't generate codes, so for them it's still the manual document check covered in our full Right to Rent guide.
The Check, Step by Step
1. The tenant generates the code. They use the government's “prove your right to rent” service, which produces a code in the format ABC-DEF-GHI. Make sure it's a right to rent code — the similar-looking right to work code will not go through the rent-checking service.
2. You go to the official service. Search gov.uk for “view a tenant's right to rent” (the service lives at right-to-rent.service.gov.uk). It's free. Anything charging you, or any link sent to you in a message, is the wrong door.
3. Enter the code and the tenant's date of birth. Those two items are all the service needs.
4. Match the photo. The result page shows the tenant's photograph and whether they can rent. Compare the photo to the person in front of you (or on the video call) — the photo match is your job, not the website's.
5. Save the result. Download or print the profile page and record the date of the check. This — not the share code itself — is your evidence. The code expires; your saved result is what establishes the statutory excuse.
The Details That Catch Landlords Out
Codes last 90 days. A tenant can send you a code weeks before move-in and it will usually still work — but if it has expired, don't improvise. A fresh code takes the tenant minutes to generate.
Check every adult, not just the lead tenant. The civil penalty runs per lodger or occupier — up to £10,000 for a first breach, £20,000 for a repeat. Every adult who'll live there gets checked, whether or not they're on the agreement.
Time-limited results need a follow-up check. If the tenant's permission is time-limited, the service tells you. Diarise the follow-up before their status expires; letting it lapse silently is the classic mid-tenancy compliance failure — the same pattern as an expiring certificate, covered in our mid-tenancy guide.
Keep the record for the tenancy plus one year. Statutory excuse evidence has a shelf life requirement, and “I definitely checked, but the screenshot is on an old phone” has lost landlords real money. (Right to rent is the odd one out here — most landlord records need keeping far longer; see how long to keep each type of record.)
Where the Evidence Should Live
The saved result page is a compliance document like any other: it belongs in the property's file, dated, next to the gas certificate and the deposit prescribed information — not in a WhatsApp thread. Store it per tenancy, note any follow-up date it triggered, and it's one more line of the file that's simply done if a council or court ever asks. That filing habit — every obligation producing a dated document in one place — is the whole game of landlord record-keeping now.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Right to Rent applies in England; always follow the current Home Office code of practice.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Right to Rent share code?
A code a prospective tenant generates from their Home Office online immigration account and gives to you (formats like ABC-DEF-GHI). Entered on the official gov.uk checking service together with the tenant’s date of birth, it shows their photo and whether they have the right to rent in England, replacing a manual passport check.
How long is a share code valid?
A share code is valid for 90 days from when the tenant generates it and can be used multiple times within that window. If it expires before you run the check, the tenant simply generates a new one — it takes minutes.
Do British and Irish citizens use share codes?
No. British and Irish citizens cannot generate share codes — for them you check original documents (typically a passport) manually, or use a certified Identity Service Provider. The share code route is for tenants with digital immigration status: eVisas, settled or pre-settled status, biometric residence permit holders.
What evidence do I need to keep from an online check?
Save the profile page the service returns — the one showing the tenant’s photo and right-to-rent result — and record the date you carried out the check. Keep it for the whole tenancy plus one year after it ends. This record is your statutory excuse against a civil penalty.
What if the check says the tenant has a time-limited right to rent?
You can let to them, but you must run a follow-up check before the date the service gives you (or after 12 months, whichever is later, per current guidance). Diarise it — a lapsed follow-up check loses you the statutory excuse just as surely as never checking.
Written by Antoine Helsen
Founder of HouseFile and a UK landlord managing his own rental portfolio. He writes about landlord compliance from first-hand experience, reviewed against UK legislation and official gov.uk guidance. More about HouseFile.