International Students and Right to Rent Information

Landlords and letting agents in the United Kingdom are required to check their tenants’ immigration status to make sure that the tenant has a ‘right to rent’ in the UK.

This means that students entering a tenancy agreement or extending their current tenancy agreement for private accommodation will have their ‘right to rent’ checked before moving into a property.

You can contact Student Living for more information on renting privately.

Right to rent documents

To prove your right to rent, you must show your landlord or letting agency one of the following documents:

  • a passport
  • a travel document issued by the Home Office
  • a current immigration status document issued by the Home Office to the holder

The document needs to have a Home Office endorsement in it – for example, a stamp or vignette (a sticker).

Please note: You can no longer use your BRP card to prove your right to rent. You must instead generate a share code online to prove your right to rent.

 

I’ve extended my Student visa but haven’t received a decision yet – how do I prove my right to rent?

As long as you’ve submitted an in-time visa application, your landlord can use the online Home Office right to rent check to confirm you are legally entitled to remain in the UK. 

I am inside the UK as a visiting student for less than 6 months – how do I prove my right to rent?

You hold a Standard Visitor visa sticker inside your passport or have had your passport stamped:

If you have entered the UK with one of the above documents and it has been endorsed by the Home Office (for example, with a stamp or vignette), you can use this to prove your right to rent.

 

You are a national of an EEA country, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, or the USA and you entered the UK through an e-gate:

If you have entered the UK through an e-gate and do not have an endorsement in your passport, you must still show your passport and evidence of your date of entry to the UK to demonstrate your right to rent. 

Acceptable evidence of travel to the UK may include (but is not restricted to) one of the following, or a combination of:

1. an original or copy of a boarding pass or electronic boarding pass for air, rail or sea travel to the UK, establishing the date of arrival in the UK in the preceding six months

2. an original or copy airline, rail or boat ticket or e-ticket establishing the date of arrival in the UK in the preceding six months

3. any type of booking confirmation (original or copy) for air, rail or sea travel to the UK establishing the date of arrival in the UK in the preceding six months

4. any other documentary evidence which establishes the date of arrival in the UK in the preceding six months

It is important to keep your entry evidence safe. If you have entered the UK through an e-gate, you have been granted automatic Permissions to Enter for a maximum period of 6 months. Your entry evidence will help you determine when your permission expires, and this evidence will also be used in your Right to Study check. 


Helpful information:

The Home Office has published an easy read guide for landlords and tenants to use in right to rent document checks.

You can also check out the full guidance for landlords on acceptable right to rent documents.

For more general advice on renting and living in the UK, you can contact the Guild of Students or look at UKCISA. 

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