Right to Rent, deposit protection, and certificates

The per-property Compliance & Certificates page keeps your statutory landlord duties in one place: gas, EICR and EPC certificates, your nation's landlord registration, Right to Rent (England only), and deposit protection. It is a tracking tool, not legal advice, so it records dates and works out reminders but leaves the legal rules to official guidance.

What the compliance page covers

Every property has its own Compliance & Certificates page at /compliance/[propertyId]. It brings together the statutory duties a landlord tracks for that property, and the exact checklist depends on the UK nation you confirm (see below). The duties it tracks include:

• safety and energy certificates, such as the Gas Safety Certificate (CP12), Electrical Safety Report (EICR) and Energy Performance Certificate (EPC);
• your nation's landlord registration, where one applies (for example Rent Smart Wales registration, Scottish Landlord Registration or NI Landlord Registration);
• tenancy paperwork and other obligations that apply in the property's nation;
• optional items where they apply, such as a Legionella risk assessment, Smoke & CO alarms and PAT testing (portable appliances);
• Right to Rent checks (England only), tracked per adult occupier;
• deposit protection, derived from each tenancy's deposit details.

Once you confirm the nation, the page shows the full set of required and optional obligations for it, so treat that checklist as the live list rather than a fixed one. It works out a status for each item (for example valid, due soon or expired) from the dates you record. It does not store the status and it does not file anything for you.

Important: The page states "This is a tracking tool, not legal advice." For the actual rules, deadlines, and your Right to Rent legal duty, check official guidance on GOV.UK or speak to your accountant. The app records what you enter and works out reminders from it; it does not decide whether you have met a legal obligation.

Before you start

This feature is part of MTD Lite and is for property landlords only, so self-employment-only accounts will not see it. See Tenant Compliance overview for how the whole module fits together, and Plans and pricing for tiers.

To use the page you need a property you actively own. To record Right to Rent or deposit protection you also need a tenancy on that property, so set those up first via Tenancies and tenants.

Confirm the property's UK nation first

The rules differ across the four UK nations, so nothing is shown until you confirm which one applies. The app never assumes England.

1. Open the property's compliance page from the Compliance overview on the Tenant Compliance hub (each property links through), or from the property workspace.
2. If the nation is not set, you will see a Select nation... prompt. A suggestion may be prefilled from the property's postcode.
3. Check it is correct and click Confirm.

Once confirmed, the checklist appears with that nation's required and optional obligations.

Record a certificate or registration

For each obligation row:

1. Click Add details on the obligation. For one you have already recorded, click Update to change or correct it, or Renew (shown once it is due soon or has expired) to enter a new certificate's dates.
2. Enter the relevant date. Depending on the obligation this is the Issue date or Date completed.
3. Set the Expiry date if the certificate or document shows one. It is optional: if you leave it blank the app works it out from the issue date, which can differ from a certificate's printed date (for example after an early renewal).
4. Optionally add a Deadline and Notes.
5. Optionally click Attach certificate (Attach document for registrations and checks) to store a copy as evidence.
6. Click Save.

When a certificate is renewed (for example your yearly gas safety check), click Renew on its row and enter the issue date and expiry date shown on the new certificate. Renew starts with the dates empty. Enter the expiry date from the certificate rather than leaving it blank: a blank expiry is worked out from the issue date, which can differ from the certificate (for example when a certificate is renewed early). The new dates replace the old ones, so there is one up-to-date record per certificate and your reminders follow the new expiry date. Renewing before the row says due soon? Click Update instead and change both dates, because Update keeps the dates already recorded. To store the new certificate, click Attach certificate, or Replace if the old one is attached. When you save after uploading a new file, the old one is removed from the record. If the property's compliance page has a Documents section, the old file stays listed there (see below), and Renew opens without the old certificate attached: when you save, it is taken off the record, so the renewed record does not show the old certificate as its evidence. Attach the new one, or click Keep the previous file to leave the old one attached (View it shows which file that is). Without a Documents section, Renew keeps the old certificate attached, and a replaced file cannot be opened in the app again, so use View to download a copy first if you need to keep it. If a record has both dates and you change only the issue date on Update, the dialog reminds you to change the expiry date too. If you upload the wrong replacement, click Keep the previous file before saving.

You need at least one date (issue, expiry or deadline) on a record. Evidence is always optional. Use Remove to delete a record you no longer need.

Note: Each obligation only applies in the nations where it is relevant. Rent Smart Wales registration appears for Wales, the Scottish and NI registrations for those nations, and so on. If you try to save one that does not apply, the app will tell you.

Right to Rent checks (England only)

Right to Rent is an England-only duty and is tracked per adult occupier. The lead tenant is added to the occupier roster automatically; add any other adults who live there (partner, adult child, lodger) so each one gets a check. To record a check:

1. Open the tenancy's compliance card (on the tenant page or the property compliance page) and find the Right to Rent check row for an occupier.
2. Enter the Date of check (required).
3. Optionally choose How did you check?: Manual document check, Digital identity check (registered provider), Home Office online check (share code), or Home Office Landlord Checking Service.
4. Set the Check outcome: Has the right to rent or No right to rent found.
5. For a passing check that is not a Landlord Checking Service check, set the Right to rent status: Unlimited (e.g. British or Irish citizen, settled status) or Time-limited (visa or limited leave). For Time-limited, set Permission expires.
6. Optionally attach evidence or confirm you have kept a copy.
7. Click Save.

If you choose the Home Office online check (share code) method, you must enter the tenant's Share code, because that is the evidence anchor for an online check.

If you choose Digital identity check (registered provider), use a provider on the government's register of digital verification services that is approved for Right to Rent checks: since 1 October 2026, a check by any other provider does not give you a statutory excuse. The form links to the register (Find a registered provider). Attach the provider's check report as your evidence. If you record a digital identity check for a Time-limited status, the card shows a reminder and marks the statutory excuse At risk, because most people with time-limited permission have an eVisa, which is checked with their Home Office share code (or through the Landlord Checking Service if they cannot give you one). If that is how you checked, change the method to that one. For a check made before 1 October 2026 the reminder says the digital check could not confirm a time-limited status, since the digital route then covered only British and Irish passports; if you did not also check their share code or use the Landlord Checking Service, check their right to rent again.

For a time-limited permission, the app schedules a follow-up reminder based on the dates you enter. If the outcome is No right to rent found, the page surfaces a Report to the Home Office step where you can record the Date reported (optional) and Home Office reference (optional).

Tip: Once you have recorded at least one check on an England property, use Download compliance pack to save a record of the checks you made.

Important: Whether a Right to Rent check is legally required, how to carry it out, and what counts as a compliant check are matters for official GOV.UK guidance. The app tracks your checks and reminders; it does not perform or validate the legal check.

Deposit protection

Deposit protection is worked out from the tenancy's own deposit details, so there is no separate certificate to add. The card only appears when the tenancy has a deposit amount above zero. To record it:

1. Open the tenancy's compliance card on the tenant page.
2. Open Deposit protection dates.
3. Choose the Deposit scheme: DPS, TDS, MyDeposits, or No scheme.
4. Record the Deposit received, Deposit protected with scheme, and Prescribed information served to tenant dates.
5. Click Save.

A protection date alone does not count as protected: the deposit is only treated as protected once you name a scheme. The deadlines for protecting a deposit and serving the prescribed information vary by nation and are tax-law and tenancy-law matters, so confirm them on GOV.UK rather than relying on the tracker to enforce them.

Attaching supporting documents

Wherever you see Attach certificate or Attach document (or the Documents section on a tenant), you can store evidence such as a gas certificate, EICR, EPC, tenancy agreement, or ID. Allowed file types are JPEG, PNG, WebP, PDF, or Word, up to a maximum of 10MB per file. Uploads count against your account's storage allowance. Use the View option to preview or download. If you see Cancel upload while a file is being sent, click it to stop the upload. If an upload stops with a message that it stopped making progress, check your connection and try again, or try a smaller file. On a tenant's Documents you can delete a file you no longer need. Files your co-owners uploaded are listed there too: files for a tenancy on a property you own together, and files about the tenant uploaded by someone who still co-owns with you a property the tenant rents. A tenant's own files uploaded by a co-owner who has since left are no longer listed; their files for a tenancy on a property you still own stay listed. A file that is the evidence on a compliance record (for example a Right to Rent check) says which one, and the delete confirmation warns that the record loses its evidence, so check before deleting. On a compliance record, Replace swaps the file (there is no separate remove-file option, and Remove deletes the whole record). Attaching evidence is always optional.

Documents on a property's compliance page

Where a property's compliance page has a Documents section (at the bottom of the page), it lists every file stored for the property itself, newest first, whichever co-owner uploaded it. That includes certificates replaced on a record or taken off it by Renew, and files uploaded in a record dialog that was then cancelled, which the record rows cannot open. A file that is the evidence on a record says which one (for example "Attached to Gas Safety Certificate (CP12)"). Click a file name or the eye icon to preview it, or open the ... menu to Download or Delete it. Deleting a file attached to a record also removes it from that record, and the confirmation says so before you delete. Gas safety records have to be kept for two years, so keep a replaced gas certificate until then. Tenant and tenancy files are not listed here: they are on each tenant's page.

If something goes wrong

• The page shows only a "Confirm which nation" prompt and no certificates. The property has no nation set. Pick the UK nation (a postcode suggestion may be prefilled) and click Confirm; the checklist then appears.
• "This obligation does not apply in this property's nation." The obligation is not valid for the confirmed nation (for example Right to Rent or the Welsh written statement outside their nations). Only record the obligations listed for that property's nation.
• The deposit shows as not protected even though you entered a date. A protection date does not count until a scheme is named. Open Deposit protection dates and select DPS, TDS or MyDeposits.
• A Right to Rent check will not save: "Enter the tenant's share code for an online check." You chose Home Office online check (share code) but left the share code blank. Enter the tenant's share code, or pick a different check method.
• The compliance pack will not download. The property must be in England and have at least one recorded Right to Rent check. Confirm the nation and record a check first.
• Tenant Compliance is missing from the sidebar, or the page redirects to the dashboard. Either your plan is Free (upgrade to MTD Lite), or your account does not include property income. It is for property landlords, so a self-employment-only account will not show it.
• An "Upgrade required" screen appears. Your plan is Free. Compliance tracking is part of MTD Lite; see Plans and pricing.

Still stuck? See Getting help.

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