Changes have been temporarily made to the right to rent checks in order to make it easier for landlords to carry them out.
The scheme requires landlords to check that all tenants occupying their properties have legal status to live in the UK. From now on, these temporary changes mean that the Home Office will not require landlords to see original documents and will allow checks to be undertaken via video calls.
Tenants can instead send scanned documents or a photo of documents using email or a mobile app.
The government also advises that landlords should use the Landlord’s Checking Service if a prospective or existing tenant cannot provide any of the existing documents
These checks are still a legal requirement, so they must continue.
Home Secretary Priti Patel commented: “I have introduced these temporary changes to help employers and landlords conduct checks more easily as people follow advice to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives, during the coronavirus outbreak.”
Landlords once will again be asked to carry out full checks on prospective tenants and on existing tenants who rented a property during the pandemic.
The full announcement from the government can be read here.