Most landlords meet right to rent the same way: a prospective tenant sends over a string of letters and numbers, and suddenly you are expected to know what to do with it. That string is a share code, and it has quietly become the default way to prove who can legally rent a home in England.
This guide works backwards from the moment that code lands in your inbox. What it is, how to turn it into a result that actually protects you, and the handful of mistakes that turn a five minute task into a five figure fine. It's been rewritten against the Home Office guidance published on 1 October 2026, the version that applies to any check you do from that date.
The short answer
A share code is a nine character code a tenant generates on GOV.UK to prove their immigration status. You enter it, plus their date of birth, into the Home Office online service, Check a tenant's right to rent in England. Done correctly, the check gives you a statutory excuse, which is legal protection against a civil penalty if that tenant turns out not to have the right to rent. Skip it or fumble it, and the penalty is £10,000 per occupier for a first breach and £20,000 for a repeat one.
The scheme applies to landlords and letting agents in England.
What changed on 1 October 2026
On 1 October 2026 the Home Office published a new Landlord's guide to right to rent checks. It applies to checks carried out on or after that date, so anything you do this month is judged against it.
Much of the document is restructuring rather than new rules, and the basic share code check works exactly as it did. But its summary of changes lists five things that affect what a landlord actually does. For how the scheme works overall, see our full guide to right to rent checks for landlords. This is just what's different.
Digital checking providers must be registered
Nobody is forcing you to go digital. Using a digital verification service provider (DVSP) isn't mandatory. But if you choose to use one for a right to rent check, it must now be on the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) register and able to provide right to rent checks. The provider confirms that in writing in the output it gives you.
The catch is resellers. Plenty of landlords get ID checks bundled in with referencing. If the referencing or screening agency isn't itself certified, it has to say it works with a certified, registered provider and name which one. If yours can't, that's your answer.
None of this moves the liability. The landlord, not the provider, is responsible if the check wasn't done as prescribed. Services vary between providers, some won't take expired passports, and you still have to offer a manual check to anyone who doesn't want to go digital.
Digital versions of documents now count
The acceptable document lists can now include the "authoritatively digitally issued version" of a document, meaning one issued electronically by the official source. So a manual check isn't only about paper any more. You still have to confirm the document is valid and belongs to the person, and the guidance encourages using a registered DVSP for digital documents. A fax, scan or photocopy still isn't the original.
Visa vignettes are on the way out
From 1 July 2026, visa vignettes are no longer issued as evidence of immigration permission. Status is evidenced with eVisas, and anyone who holds only an eVisa must prove their right to rent through the Home Office online service. Expect more share codes and fewer stickers in passports.
The exception: if someone needs to sign before they've created a UKVI account and accessed their eVisa, they may be able to use a short validity vignette in their passport, if one was issued and is still valid. You do a manual check on that vignette. The same shift already finished off biometric residence permits, which stopped being issued on 31 October 2024. A manual check of an expired BRP is not acceptable. Only an online check gives you an excuse for that tenant.
EEA citizens: one section, clearer routes
Everything on EEA citizens and their family members now sits in one place. Most prove their right to rent digitally, with a share code. With settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you check once before the tenancy and that's it, no repeat checks. A digital Certificate of Application works the same way, and you don't need the Landlord Checking Service.
The LCS comes in for a frontier worker with no share code or only non-digital evidence, and for anyone holding a Crown Dependency letter or email confirming EUSS-equivalent status or a pending application, where you keep both the letter and the LCS response. A non-digital Certificate of Application only counts together with a Positive Right to Rent Notice from the LCS.
The Swiss service providers route is gone
Content on Service Providers from Switzerland has been removed because the route closed on 31 December 2025. The guidance says nothing more than that, so neither will we.
So does your process still work?
If you were already asking for a share code, entering it with the date of birth, matching the photo and saving the result, yes. The places to look again are any digital ID tool you use (is the provider registered, and can whoever sold it to you name them?), any tenant still holding a vignette or an old BRP, and EEA tenants who don't have a share code.
Why this exists at all
The duty comes from the Immigration Act 2014. The idea is simple: before anyone moves in, the landlord confirms they have permission to be in the UK. The law puts the burden of proof on the tenant and the burden of checking on you.
What is easy to forget is that the obligation does not stop at the people who sign the tenancy. It covers every adult aged 18 or over who will live there as their only or main home, British citizens included, named on the agreement or not, and whether the tenancy is written, oral or implied. A partner who moves in three weeks later still counts.
If you use a letting agent, put who does the initial and follow-up checks in a written agreement. And if your tenant takes in a lodger, checking that person is your tenant's job unless you've agreed in writing to take it on.
Not everyone uses a share code
Before we get into reading codes, it helps to know who actually hands you one, because plenty of tenants never will.
British and Irish citizens have an unlimited right to rent. They usually prove it with a British passport, or an Irish passport or passport card, current or expired. Without a passport, two documents from List A Group 2 of the guidance will do, for example a UK birth certificate plus a recent signed letter from a government department or local authority.
Anyone who holds only an eVisa must use the Home Office online service, which means a share code. That includes most EEA citizens with settled or pre-settled status.
The old line that the tenant always gets to choose needs care. Where someone can prove their right more than one way, you can't insist on a particular method or treat one less favourably. But if the online check isn't possible, you can only use another method the person can actually prove their right with. Someone with only an eVisa has no paper option to offer you.
A useful instinct: never refuse an applicant or pile on extra hurdles because their check looks more complicated. That tips straight into discrimination, which carries its own liability under the Equality Act 2010.
Anatomy of a share code
A right to rent share code has a few defining traits worth committing to memory.
It is nine characters and starts with "R". That "R" matters. Codes starting with "W" or "S" are for other services and are useless for a tenancy check. If the code in front of you doesn't begin with R, send it back.
It lasts 90 days. After that, the tenant needs a fresh one. Long application processes are where this trips people up.
And on its own, it proves nothing. The code is just a key. The result you pull from the Home Office service yourself is what counts. A screenshot or printout of the tenant's own view isn't enough, however official it looks.
Getting a code: what to tell your tenant
The generating side is the tenant's job, but knowing the steps saves you a week of back and forth. Send them this:
- Go to Prove your right to rent in England on GOV.UK.
- Sign in to your UKVI account, where your eVisa is held.
- When asked why you're sharing your status, choose to prove your right to rent in England and get a share code.
- Generate the code. It's nine characters long and starts with "R".
- Send the code and your date of birth to your landlord or agent.
They can also send it through the service, in which case you'll get an email from [email protected]. Either way, you still run the check yourself. Tell them not to generate it weeks early, given the 90 day limit.
If an applicant can't get a code, find out why. A temporary technical problem, or not being able to access their eVisa, may mean you can use the Landlord Checking Service. But if they can see their eVisa and think the details are wrong, they need the Report an error with your eVisa service. The LCS isn't there to correct eVisa records.
Running the check
This is the bit to have open when the tenant is on the phone:
- Ask the tenant for their share code and date of birth.
- Check the code starts with "R". If it starts with "W" or "S", or has expired, ask for a new one.
- Go to Check a tenant's right to rent in England yourself.
- Enter the share code.
- Enter the tenant's date of birth.
- Compare the photo on screen with the tenant, in person or on a live video call.
- Read the result: a continuous right to rent, or a time-limited one with a follow-up date.
- Save the profile page as a PDF or HTML file.
- Put the follow-up date in your diary if there is one.
- Authorise the tenancy only if the result confirms a right to rent and the photo matches.
The photo is where the actual work is. If it's reasonably apparent the person isn't the one the check relates to, don't let to them on the strength of it. If the image is just poor quality, the tenant should update it on their account, with help from UKVI if needed. Facial recognition can do the match, but only through a registered DVSP.
For anyone with a time-limited right, the check has to be done and recorded no earlier than 28 calendar days before the tenancy agreement is entered into. Unlimited rights can be checked any time before.
Keep the saved page, which shows the photo and date, for the whole tenancy and at least a year after, then destroy it securely. No saved result, no proof you ever checked.
Which check fits which situation
Most tenants fit one of three routes: the online check with a share code, a manual check of original documents, or a request to the Home Office Landlord Checking Service (LCS). The LCS is for landlords and agents only, and it shouldn't be used where a document or online check would do the job.
| Situation | Route | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Holds only an eVisa | Online check | Get a share code and date of birth, run the check, match the photo, save the profile page |
| EUSS settled or pre-settled status | Online check | Check once before the tenancy, no repeat checks |
| Digital Certificate of Application | Online check | Check as normal, no LCS needed |
| British passport, or Irish passport or passport card, current or expired | Manual check, or registered DVSP | Check the original in person or by live video and keep a copy. A DVSP can check passports up to six months past expiry |
| British or Irish, no passport | Manual check | Check two documents from List A Group 2, such as a UK birth certificate plus a qualifying letter |
| Expired BRP | Online check only | A manual check of the BRP is not acceptable. Ask for a share code |
| Valid short validity vignette, no UKVI account yet | Manual check | Check the vignette in the passport |
| Visitor from the EEA, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea or the USA | Manual check | Check the passport plus evidence of arrival in the UK within the last six months. Follow up after 12 months |
| Outstanding in-time application, administrative review or appeal the online service can't confirm | LCS | Submit the form and wait for the reply before signing |
| Non-digital Certificate of Application | LCS | Keep the certificate with the Positive Right to Rent Notice |
| Frontier worker with no share code, or non-digital evidence | LCS | Submit the form |
| Crown Dependency letter or email confirming status | LCS | Keep the letter or email and the LCS response |
| Can't access their eVisa | LCS | Submit the form. Errors in an eVisa go to the eVisa error service instead |
| Asylum seeker, or asylum appeal pending | LCS | Submit the form |
| Granted Permission to Rent | LCS | Submit the form |
The part people forget: follow-up checks
A tenant with time limited permission is not a problem. A tenant with time limited permission and no diarised follow-up is.
The excuse from a time-limited check lasts until the latest of 12 months from the check, the end of their permission, or the expiry of their immigration document. The online result tells you when the follow-up is due. Don't assume it's the day their visa ends if a longer excuse applies, though nothing stops you checking earlier.
Before that date, ask the tenant for List A or List B documents or a fresh share code. If they can't produce anything, contact the Landlord Checking Service. If they no longer have the right to rent, or won't cooperate, report it to the Home Office as soon as reasonably practicable and before your current excuse runs out. Keep the reference number the report generates. That's what keeps your excuse alive. Don't send documents with it, but do keep them.
Making the report means you're not required to end the tenancy. But it can't rescue a bad initial check. If the first check wasn't done properly, reporting later won't give you an excuse you never had.
Children aren't checked, but once someone turns 18 they go into the next follow-up. And if a tenancy is varied, assigned or surrendered and a new adult joins, you check all the adults again.
The risk is never the dates on the agreement. It's the reminder you meant to set and didn't.
When there is no code
For British and Irish tenants, visitors, and anyone else whose right can be shown with documents, the process is a manual check:
- Obtain the original documents from List A or List B in the guidance.
- Check them in the tenant's presence, in person or on a live video call, with the originals in your possession. They can post them to you.
- Copy each document, record the date, and keep the copies for the tenancy plus at least a year.
A scan, photo or fax won't do. Don't accept a document if it's reasonably apparent it's false or isn't theirs. You're only liable for a forgery if that was reasonably apparent, so you're not expected to be a forensic examiner, just to look properly.
The Landlord Checking Service covers the cases in the table above. Hold off signing until it replies, which it does with a yes or no within two working days. A yes, a Positive Right to Rent Notice, gives you a 12 month excuse. A no means you have no excuse if you go ahead. No answer in two working days triggers an automatic response saying you can let, also good for 12 months. Keep whatever it sends.
What it costs to get wrong
The penalties are charged per person, so a shared house multiplies the damage fast. They're fixed amounts, set by whether the person is a lodger or an occupier and whether it's a repeat breach within three years.
| Type of occupier | First breach | Repeat breach within 3 years |
|---|---|---|
| Lodger | £5,000 | £10,000 |
| Occupier | £10,000 | £20,000 |
On a first breach, paying within 21 calendar days cuts the penalty by 30%, from £5,000 to £3,500 or from £10,000 to £7,000. That option disappears if you pay by instalments.
Beyond the civil penalty, the Immigration Act 2016 added criminal sanctions for landlords who knowingly rent to a disqualified person.
And running a check is no guarantee on its own. You have no statutory excuse if you can't show the check happened before the tenancy, if a false document or an imposter was reasonably apparent, if you relied on a DVSP result that was clearly wrong, if you didn't use the official GOV.UK service for an online check, or if the check showed no right to rent. Checking the named tenant but not their partner, or missing a follow-up, lands you in the same place.
If a penalty does land, you can object in writing within 28 calendar days of the due date on the notice, on the grounds that you aren't liable, have a statutory excuse, or the amount is too high. If that fails, you can appeal to the County Court within 28 calendar days, and you may be ordered to pay the Home Office's costs if you lose. Prevention is cheaper than every one of those steps.
A workflow that holds up
The whole thing becomes routine once it is a sequence rather than a scramble:
- Decide before you advertise how checks will be handled, and if you use an agent, put in writing who does the initial and follow-up checks.
- Tell every applicant up front that you will verify right to rent before move in, so nobody is caught out.
- Collect a code or documents from every adult who will live there.
- Run the check, match the photo, confirm the result.
- Save the evidence and date it.
- Diarise follow-ups for anyone with an end date.
- Report to the Home Office if a follow-up comes back negative.
Steps five and six are where most fines are actually born, not in the check itself but in the record keeping after it. Holding share code results, document scans, and follow-up reminders in one place, next to your gas safety and deposit deadlines, is what stops a forgotten date becoming a penalty. That single-view tracking is the kind of thing Propell is built to handle, whether you let one flat or run a portfolio.
Common questions
Does a short let need a check? Not if it's genuine holiday accommodation, let for a short period for leisure. As a guide, the Home Office says bookings of three months or more may mean the place is someone's only or main home, and open ended or repeatedly extended bookings are worth checking.
Do I need to check British tenants? Yes. Every adult who will live there as their only or main home is checked, British citizens included.
Can I run the check before the tenant gives me a code? No. The online service needs both the share code and the date of birth. If they genuinely can't get a code, the Landlord Checking Service may cover it.
The code has expired, now what? It can't be used. Ask the tenant to generate a new right to rent share code.
Is a right to work code the same thing? No. Right to rent codes start with "R". Codes starting with "W" or "S" are for other services.
Does renewing a tenancy mean a new check? Not if it's a renewal between the same parties with no break.
How long do records need to live? For the whole tenancy and at least one year after it ends, then securely destroyed.
The takeaway
Share codes made right to rent faster, but they did not make it forgiving. The five minutes you spend matching a photo, noting a follow-up date, and saving the result is what stands between you and a penalty that reaches £20,000 per occupier. The October 2026 guidance didn't change that routine. It tightened the edges around it. Treat it as a small, repeatable habit rather than a one off hurdle, and it stops being something to worry about.
Keeping on top of checks like this across a portfolio is easier with the right system behind you. We have compared the main UK landlord software options, including where each one is stronger than Propell.
This article is a general guide and not legal advice. Seek advice from a qualified professional for your circumstances. Penalty figures are as set out in the Home Office's Landlord's guide to right to rent checks dated 1 October 2026.
