Ahead of the changes to the Right to Rent system this week, No Letting Go is calling for greater clarity about the checks post-pandemic and post-Brexit.

The inventory specialist argues that the government needs to be clearer on what will be involved moving forward for the controversial checks, as Brexit could now prove to be a potential complication for landlords and agents when it comes to Right to Rent checks.

Since the end of the transition phase, there has been a grace period on Right to Rent checks, due to come to an end today.

According to the Home Office, agents will from tomorrow be required to move from checking nationality to checking the UK immigration status of all adult applicants.

“From this point, if someone is an EEA, EU, or Swiss national, you will need to see evidence of their UK immigration status rather than their national identification,” ARLA Propertymark states.

The organisation adds that those EEA citizens resident in the UK who have made an application for settled status will have been provided with digital evidence of their UK immigration status, and will be able to evidence their Right to Rent by sharing their immigration status digitally, using the Home Office’s online Right to Rent service on gov.uk.

The digital checks, which were introduced in December 2020, allow the applicant to provide a share code and their date of birth – information that is inputted to reveal a status of unlimited or time limited status to remain.

Other EEA and Swiss citizens, however, will have different evidence of their status in the UK, typically held in a physical document such as a visa.

“Those documents are included in the prescribed document lists, providing landlords with a statutory excuse against liability for a civil penalty,” ARLA continues.

The organisation says digital status checks can be conducted by video call permanently, while hard copy checks will still need to be conducted in person.

Nick Lyons, founder and CEO of No Letting Go, commented: “The terms of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement state that EU citizens already living in the UK by the end of 2020 can remain with guaranteed rights, with the right to apply for permanent residence after five years, assuming they apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.

“However, from July 1, those who have not already applied face losing essential rights they have enjoyed up to now – including the right to rental accommodation.”

Lyons is among those who would like to see an extension to the UK’s post-Brexit settlement scheme, and in turn Right to Rent.

“With so many still in the system, waiting to be approved before the end of this month, we could have a situation from July where the status of hundreds of thousands of people is unknown or in limbo,” Lyons said. “This will inevitably cause problems for letting agents and landlords when it comes to confirming people’s eligibility to rent.”

Due to the pandemic, letting agents and landlords have been able to conduct Right to Rent checks via video calls – a temporary measure which has now been extended to the end of August, but it is not yet clear what will happen thereafter.

Lyons continued: “The new end of August deadline will help to provide agents and landlords with some further clarity, but what will the process be after that?

“Will landlords and agents be able to use video checks permanently into the future, as well as in-person face-to-face ones?”

“Given the new system of allowing scanned or photographed documents appears to have worked quite well, questions may be asked about why this can’t continue post-pandemic.”