Checking right to rent online with a share code

What a share code is

A share code is a short code the tenant creates on GOV.UK’s “Prove your right to rent” service. It lets you see their immigration status online. Share codes for right to rent are 9 characters long and start with “R”, and they stay valid for 90 days.

From 2026 most people with immigration permission hold an eVisa, which is a digital record rather than a sticker in a passport. Visa vignettes stopped being issued from 1 July 2026, and biometric residence permits stopped being issued in October 2024. An expired BRP isn’t acceptable proof on its own.

If the tenant only holds an eVisa, the online check is the only way to check them. You can’t do a manual check for an eVisa.

How to do the check

1. Get the share code and date of birth from the tenant. Don’t accept a screenshot or printout of their own view instead: you must use the landlord service yourself.
2. Enter both on the GOV.UK service “View a tenant’s right to rent”.
3. Check the photo on the result matches the person in front of you (in person or on a live video call).
4. Note whether there’s a time limit. The result shows whether the right to rent is time-limited and, if so, when it ends.
5. Save the profile page as a PDF or HTML file. It includes the photo and the date of the check.

Timing

• If the right to rent is time-limited, the check must be done no earlier than 28 days before the tenancy starts.
• If the right to rent is unlimited, you can check at any time before the tenancy agreement is made.

After the check

• No time limit: no follow-up check is needed during the tenancy.
• Time-limited: a follow-up check is due just before the later of the permission end date or 12 months after your check. Work out the date.

What to keep

Keep the saved profile page securely for the length of the tenancy and at least one year after it ends, then destroy it securely.

Check everyone the same way. Don’t only ask for share codes from people you assume are migrants.