Biometric Residence Permit: A Guide for UK Letting Agents
An applicant sends over a Biometric Residence Permit and expects that to settle the right to rent check. For years, that was normal. In 2025, it isn't.
That change has caught out plenty of busy letting teams because the old habit was simple. Check the card, match the face, copy the details, file it. The problem now is that a physical Biometric Residence Permit no longer gives you what you need for a compliant check in England.
If your workflow still depends on inspecting a card, you need to update it fast. The operational shift is bigger than most government summaries make it sound. This isn't just a document change. It's a process change, a training change, and a risk control change for every branch handling applicants with immigration status held by UKVI.
Your Applicant Has a Biometric Residence Permit What Now
You're midway through referencing. The applicant looks good, their income stacks up, and they send a photo of their BRP. The instinct is to treat that like a standard identity and status document. For a letting agent in 2025, that's where the risk starts.
The practical answer is simple. Don't rely on the card itself for the right to rent decision. What matters now is the applicant's digital immigration status through their UKVI account, not the plastic card in their wallet. If your team still needs a refresher on the older BRP process and how it has changed, this BRP check overview for landlords and agents is a useful operational reference.
What you should do first
When an applicant presents a BRP, treat it as a signal that they likely need to prove status digitally.
Use this sequence:
- Acknowledge the document. It tells you the applicant is in the category of person who historically held immigration status in card form.
- Ask for digital proof. Tell them you need their share code and date of birth so you can complete the Home Office online check.
- Avoid making a judgement from the card photo. Even if the card looks genuine, that's no longer enough for right to rent compliance.
- Record your process. Your audit trail matters as much as the check itself.
Practical rule: If an applicant offers only a BRP image and nothing from the online system, your check isn't complete.
Why agents get tripped up
The confusion usually comes from overlap between old habits and new rules. A BRP used to be a working document in the lettings process, so staff naturally still treat it that way. But the compliance question has moved from “is this card real?” to “does the live UKVI record confirm a right to rent?”
That's a healthier test for agents because it reduces guesswork. It also means your team needs to stop accepting shortcuts such as photos, scans, or verbal reassurance that the applicant “has a valid visa”.
For branch managers, the issue isn't theory. It's consistency. If one negotiator accepts a card and another insists on the digital route, your process is already vulnerable.
Understanding the Legacy BRP Card
Before the digital switch, the Biometric Residence Permit was the standard physical proof of immigration status for many non-EEA nationals staying in the UK for longer periods. It worked a bit like a high-security driving licence for immigration purposes. Agents saw it during right to rent checks, employers saw it during right to work checks, and applicants used it routinely to prove status.
What the card actually was
A Biometric Residence Permit was an 86mm × 54mm polycarbonate card, the same size as a standard UK driving licence or ID card, with a secure gold biometric chip. It stored encoded data including the holder's fingerprints, facial photograph, full name, date of birth, nationality, immigration status, visa type, and expiry date, as described by Immigration Barrister's BRP guide.
For agents, that physical format made the old workflow intuitive. You could hold the card, inspect the print quality, compare the photo, check the dates, and note any visible conditions. It felt concrete.
Why the old card felt useful
The card bundled several checks into one object:
| Legacy BRP feature | Why agents liked it |
|---|---|
| Photo on the card | Easy face-to-face identity match |
| Expiry date | Quick visual cue for permission length |
| Card format | Familiar to copy, store, and review |
| Embedded chip and security design | Gave confidence against obvious forgery |
That convenience was also the weakness. A physical card can be lost, stolen, altered, or become out of date while still looking plausible in a PDF or smartphone photo.
A convincing card image can still lead to a non-compliant decision if your workflow stops there.
Why this background still matters
You still need staff to recognise a BRP because applicants will keep mentioning it, showing it, or asking whether it's enough. Older tenancy files may also contain BRP records taken under previous rules.
What works now is recognising the card for what it is: a legacy document that helps explain the applicant's history, but not the current method of proving status. That distinction matters when you train branch staff, write SOPs, and respond quickly at offer stage.
The 2025 Digital Switchover From BRP to eVisa
The hard compliance change is this. All BRPs expired on 31 December 2024 and the Home Office stopped issuing new BRPs from November 2024 in favour of the digital eVisa system. From 1 January 2025, physical BRPs are no longer accepted as proof of status for right to work, right to rent, or right to reside in the UK according to this summary of the BRP phase-out and eVisa switch.
That single change rewires the lettings workflow. A tenant's status is no longer something you verify by inspecting a card. It's something you verify by checking the live UKVI record through the approved online route.
What changed in operational terms
Under the old model, the card sat at the centre of the process. Under the new model, the UKVI account sits at the centre.
That means:
- The applicant must access their digital status through UKVI.
- Your team must view status online rather than deciding from a physical document.
- The share code becomes the handoff point between applicant and agent.
- Branch process notes need updating so staff don't accept a BRP image as final evidence.
If you want a broader refresher on the legal purpose behind this workflow, this right to rent check explainer for agents gives the wider compliance context.
Why this is better and where it creates friction
Digital status solves some old problems. It reduces reliance on physical possession, reduces the value of a forged card, and gives agents a route to current status rather than a static image.
But it creates real friction at branch level:
| Old habit | New requirement | Risk if unchanged |
|---|---|---|
| Ask for a card copy | Ask for a share code | Incomplete evidence |
| Visually inspect document | Use the UKVI online service | Manual judgement where none should be made |
| File a scan | Record online result and date checked | Weak audit trail |
| Treat document collection as the main task | Treat live verification as the main task | Missed compliance step |
A second issue is applicant understanding. Some applicants still believe the BRP is their proof because that's what it used to be. Others will send screenshots, old scans, or a card photo because they think it's faster. Your team has to be clear without sounding obstructive.
The smoothest branches now explain the rule in one sentence: “We can't complete right to rent from the BRP card itself. We need your share code so we can check your eVisa online.”
A practical note on digital trust
Moving online doesn't mean dropping your guard. It means shifting where you apply it. If your team is reviewing digital documents more widely, this online ID verification guide is useful background on why screenshots and uploaded images shouldn't be treated as equal to live verification systems.
For letting agents, the main lesson is straightforward. The old card-based mindset doesn't fail because staff are careless. It fails because the legal proof point has moved elsewhere.
How to Conduct a Compliant Digital Right to Rent Check
A compliant check now depends on the applicant generating a share code and your team using the official online service to view the result. Landlords in England can no longer accept physical BRP cards for right-to-rent checks. Only digital eVisas, proved via the View and Prove service using a share code, count as valid proof of immigration status, as outlined in DavidsonMorris on BRP and eVisa right to rent requirements.
That change means the correct workflow is procedural, not interpretive. Your staff shouldn't be weighing up whether a card “looks acceptable”. They should be following the same sequence every time.
The working process for branch teams
-
Ask for the share code early
Don't leave this until move-in week. If the applicant needs to access UKVI, reset a password, or recover account details, delay appears quickly. -
Collect the date of birth as well
Your team needs both pieces of information to complete the online check. -
Use the Home Office online route, not emailed evidence
A screenshot, PDF, or mobile photo isn't the same as a live result. -
Review the returned status carefully
Check the person shown, the right to rent outcome, and whether there are time limits or follow-up requirements. -
Keep the record of the result
Store the response and the date the check was completed in your tenancy file.
Where teams usually go wrong
The common errors are operational rather than legal:
- Delay at offer stage because no one asked for the share code until referencing was nearly complete.
- Staff inconsistency where one negotiator uses the online service and another accepts uploaded documents.
- Weak record keeping where the result is viewed but not properly retained.
- Over-reliance on ID documents when the status check should be the controlling evidence.
If you're tightening internal process more broadly, this practical guide for HR compliance risk is worth reading because the same discipline applies in lettings. Reduce handoffs, define one approved route, and make exceptions rare and documented.
A simple desk instruction that works
Keep the branch rule short enough to remember:
Never complete a right to rent decision for a BRP holder from the card, scan, or screenshot. Complete it from the digital status result.
For day-to-day operations, it also helps to standardise what your team asks for in writing. This list of right to rent check documents and evidence routes can help staff distinguish between documents they can inspect directly and cases that must go through the online system.
The win here is consistency. Once the branch treats the share-code process as routine, the check becomes less subjective and easier to audit.
Spotting Fraud and Avoiding Common Pitfalls
The digital process is stronger than the old card-only model, but it doesn't remove risk. It changes the shape of the risk.
The biggest mistake agents make is treating substitutes as if they were the actual check. A screenshot of an immigration profile. A cropped image of an old BRP. A message saying “my solicitor confirmed it's valid”. None of those is the check you need.
The expired BRP trap
An expired BRP may still be used for a limited 24-month grace period, or until 31 December 2026, strictly for authentication purposes such as signing in to view the eVisa or generating a share code. It cannot be used as photographic identification for banking, employment, or travel, according to the GOV.UK guidance on expired BRPs and eVisa access.
That's the point many applicants miss. They may believe the card still “works” because they were able to use it to get into their UKVI account. For your team, that doesn't make the card acceptable evidence. It only explains how the applicant gets to the actual evidence.
Red flags worth escalating
Use judgement, but don't improvise. These warning signs deserve extra scrutiny:
- Reluctance to use the official service. If the applicant keeps pushing a screenshot or card image instead of a share code, pause and ask why.
- Mismatch between person and online result. If the photograph or identity details don't line up, don't wave it through.
- Pressure for speed. Fraud often arrives dressed up as urgency.
- Patchy file history. If nothing in the application pack lines up cleanly, treat the right to rent check as one part of a wider risk review.
Good compliance isn't about distrusting every applicant. It's about refusing weak evidence, even when the tenancy timeline is tight.
Keep fraud controls proportionate
You also need to avoid overcorrecting. Apply the same right to rent process consistently and lawfully. Don't single people out based on accent, nationality, ethnicity, or assumptions about immigration status. The trigger should be the evidence route required for the applicant's status, not a subjective impression.
If your agency reviews third-party tools that handle applicant data or security-sensitive workflows, it's sensible to look at the provider's published controls. Donely's Security Policy is an example of the kind of security documentation worth reviewing when you assess any software used in compliance-heavy processes.
The practical standard is straightforward. Trust live systems more than files. Trust recorded workflow more than memory. Trust consistency more than staff instinct.
Streamline Your Checks in the New Digital Era
The shift from physical BRPs to eVisas has changed more than one check. It affects branch timing, applicant communication, audit records, and the way referencing teams handle exceptions.
Manual checking can still work, especially for lower volumes. But once your team is handling multiple applicants across branches, the friction becomes obvious. Someone has to request the share code, someone has to chase it, someone has to enter it, someone has to save the result, and someone has to make sure that happened before keys are released.
Where manual workflows break down
The failure points are usually ordinary:
| Workflow stage | What goes wrong |
|---|---|
| Applicant handoff | Share code requested too late |
| Branch admin | Result viewed but not stored properly |
| Team coordination | Different staff follow different methods |
| File review | Missing evidence discovered at move-in stage |
This is why more agencies are folding digital status checks into wider referencing operations rather than treating them as a separate admin task. One route is to use an integrated system that gathers applicant inputs, prompts for the right evidence path, and stores the result in the same referencing file.
What a better setup looks like
A practical setup has three features:
- One intake route so applicants aren't emailing evidence to multiple people
- Clear status prompts so the right evidence is requested at the right time
- An audit trail that shows what was checked, when, and by whom
For agencies that want to reduce manual handling, tenant screening software for letting agents is the category to look at. Within that category, passref is one example of a UK-focused referencing platform that includes right to rent checks inside the wider referencing workflow, alongside ID, affordability, employment, and landlord references.
The real gain isn't just speed. It's fewer branch-level decisions made from incomplete evidence.
Digital-only status checks aren't a temporary detour. They're now part of the baseline operating model for lettings. The agencies that adapt cleanly are the ones that write the process once, train it properly, and stop letting legacy document habits dictate current compliance.
If you want a simpler way to handle right to rent checks alongside the rest of your referencing workflow, passref gives letting agents one place to collect applicant details, run checks, and keep a clear audit trail without relying on scattered emails and manual follow-up.