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 its existing referencing product, and is designed to help letting agents stay safe during the pandemic. 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. 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.