The Home Office launched a consultation on 15 April 2026 on a revised code of practice for landlords, setting out how Right to Rent checks (the mandatory process requiring landlords to verify a prospective tenant's legal right to live in the UK) must be carried out without breaching equality law. The deadline for responses was 29 April 2026. Updated guidance is expected to come into force in October 2026.
What the new rules require
Right to Rent rules were introduced in England under the Immigration Act 2014. They place a legal duty on every residential landlord to check the immigration status of all adult tenants before a tenancy begins. Failure to comply can result in a fine of up to £20,000 or a prison sentence of up to five years, according to GOV.UK.
The new draft code of practice - published by the Home Office on 15 April 2026 - goes further. According to the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) (April 2026), landlords would be "explicitly banned from treating prospective tenants less favourably because their right to rent is time-limited or because of how they choose to prove their status." That means preferring a passport over other forms of identification, or favouring online checks over physical documents, would count as unlawful differential treatment.
The consultation also proposes making it a mandatory requirement for landlords to ensure any Digital Verification Services (DVS) - the certified online systems used to confirm immigration status - are officially certified before use.
What landlords must and must not do
The draft guidance is direct about what consistent compliance looks like. According to the Home Office consultation document (April 2026), landlords and letting agents must:
• Apply the same checking process to every prospective tenant, including those believed to be British citizens
• Ensure no applicant is discouraged or excluded because of a known or perceived protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010
• Ensure any automated or digital onboarding systems do not create or reinforce discriminatory outcomes
The same guidance states landlords must not make assumptions about a person's immigration status based on colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, accent, or length of time in the UK. Treating tenants with a time-limited right to rent (where the right expires on a specific date) more or less favourably than others is also expressly prohibited.
Landlords who breach these requirements risk discrimination claims in the county court, as well as regulatory consequences. If you want to understand how compliance sits alongside your wider letting strategy, the Property Filter business and systems resources cover operational frameworks for landlords managing multiple tenancies.
What changes in October and what to do now
The legislation will be implemented through secondary legislation, with the finalised code expected to take effect in October 2026. The consultation closed on 29 April 2026, so the response period has passed - the final code is now being drafted.
The deadline you need to know: October 2026. Between now and then, every landlord should treat this as a forward-looking compliance exercise. Standard referencing checks remain permitted. You can still use guarantors and apply financial criteria - but those criteria must be consistent across every single applicant without exception.
For landlords letting to tenants who receive benefits or have time-limited leave, it is worth checking whether your current affordability criteria create indirect discrimination. The LHA rates map can help you model local housing allowance (LHA) against rental values across your target areas, which is useful context when setting consistent affordability thresholds.
Propertymark notes (April 2026) that the risk of indirect discrimination is particularly high where guidance is unclear, since landlords may unconsciously favour applicants who appear easier to verify. The revised code aims to close that gap by making the rules explicit. You can find additional compliance guidance and landlord tools at Property Filter's free resources hub.
Key takeaways
• The Home Office consultation on revised Right to Rent anti-discrimination rules closed on 29 April 2026; updated guidance is expected in October 2026
• Landlords must apply identical checking processes to every applicant - preferring a passport or online check over other methods could trigger a discrimination claim under the Equality Act 2010
• Review your referencing and affordability criteria now to ensure they are applied consistently across all applicants, regardless of nationality, immigration status type, or document choice
