The UK’s first end-to-end digital Right to Rent checker that eliminates the need for face-face meetings for letting agents and landlords has been officially launched after several months of testing.

London-based RentProfile says the new service is an update to their existing referencing product, and is designed to help letting agents stay safe during Covid.

This upgrade is possible because, during the early weeks of the March lockdown, the government relaxed its rules for Right to Rent checks, removing the need for documents such as passports to be ‘eyeballed’ in person.

But RentProfile says until now one has built a platform that does the whole job from beginning to end online, developed with the advice of senior policy advisors at the Home Office to ensure the product is compliant.

Home Office

Official guidance for Right to Rent says the tenant can send a scan or photo of the required document/s to their agent or landlord, which is then cross-referenced via a video call with the tenant, where they must hold up their original document.

RentProfile automates this during its referencing checks with the agent later alerted of document expiry prompting the tenant to provide an updated document.

We have been using the COVID-19 Right to Rent option for the last couple of months. These checks have been done quickly and diligently ensuring that we are still compliant with legislation”, says Steve Akl (pictured), an Administrator at base property specialists, which has been helping pilot the service.

RentProfile says the service will have an application once Covid is over, by helping streamline the onboarding process, enabling Right to Rent checks during viewings, for example.

Read more about digitised right to rent checks.