Letting agents will be able to learn more about the upcoming changes to the Right to Rent process in a free webinar later this week.

David Smith, partner at JMW Solicitors, will be providing advice and answering questions during the webinar, which takes place on Thursday 17 March and will cover the key changes of outsourcing Right to Rent checks to Identity Service Providers and the end of manual checks.

A series of major changes in Right to Rent have already occurred and more are heading towards the market, bringing with them serious legal implications for agents, landlords and tenants.

Two significant changes to right to rent checks come into force in the coming months. From September 2022, legislation will change to allow landlords and letting agents to outsource right to rent checks to Identity Service Providers (IDSPs). IDSPs will then digitally check the identity and eligibility of British and Irish citizens to rent a property in England.

From April, landlords and letting agents will no longer be allowed to carry out manual right to rent checks on applicants who have a Biometric Residence Card or are a Permit holder. They must use the Home Office’s online service, which was introduced in December 2020.

The government has also recently announced that the end-date for the temporary adjusted checks due to Covid-19 has been deferred until 30 September 2022 to allow for the new systems to come into place. This means that right to rent checks for suitable applicants can continue to take place over a video call using  scanned or photographed versions of their identification documents until this date.

This webinar is designed to help agents and landlords understand and prepare for this array of upcoming changes.

Smith said: “Updates to right to rent have come thick and fast as a result of Covid and Brexit and it’s understandable that many letting agents and landlords will have questions about the upcoming changes and how these will affect their current processes. In this webinar, I’ll review the recent government announcements and answer questions live to assist letting agents and landlords in preparing for these changes.”