International Students and Right to Rent

There are almost 700,000 international students enrolled at universities and colleges across the UK. A British education is considered among the best in the world, and the fees which are paid into university and college funds by overseas students make a huge contribution to the institutions’ budgets. International students need somewhere to live just as students from other parts of the UK do but may have to overcome an additional hurdle in identity checking as part of the Right to Rent checks. As an international student renting a property in the UK, being able to prove your Right to Rent is essential as it confirms to any landlord or agent, or to your university’s own accommodation department, that you are in the UK legally and that they are not breaking the law by renting to you.

Getting a Right to Rent Check

From a student’s point of view, their landlord or agent is the one driving the Right to Rent process, so the key is to respond to their requests for documents rather than trying to organise the check yourself. Landlords who do not check that the people they are renting to are in the UK legally can face very hefty fines, so will typically take this process very seriously.

If you are negotiating a new tenancy agreement in the UK, then there are various routes to prove your Right to Rent depending on which documents you have.

• Valid Student Visa with BRP/Digital Status: first use the government immigration portal to generate share code. Give the share code to your landlord, who will use this to carry out the Right to Rent check online.
• Student Visa Entry Vignette (BRP not Collected Yet): if you haven’t yet received your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), show your visa to your landlord who can then run a manual check, followed by an online check within 30 days when your BRP arrives.
• Student Visa Pending: show your landlord evidence that you have applied for a student visa. They will need to carry out an online check once the decision has been made. They may wait for the final decision before agreeing to rent property to you.
• Overseas and Waiting for Visa: if you have not yet arrived in the UK and are still waiting for your student visa, you should wait for this to arrive first. Landlords may agree to a tenancy in principle pending a Visa, but don’t have to.

Problems With Right to Rent

Landlords shouldn’t discriminate against tenants on the basis of any protected characteristics such as age, race or sex. However, refusing to rent to students as a group is not illegal and many landlords may have a blanket policy of only renting to working people. It may be tempting to deal with off the record landlords who are prepared to overlook the law, but without an official tenancy you have no guarantee that a property is even safe to live in. Your university’s accommodation office will be able to give further, specific advice.