Guarantor

A guarantor is a third party, usually a parent or close relative, who signs a legally binding agreement to meet a tenant's obligations under a tenancy if the tenant fails to do so. In practice this means covering unpaid rent, and often damage and other breaches, up to whatever limit the guarantee specifies. A landlord asks for one when an applicant cannot pass affordability or referencing on their own merit, and since 1 May 2026 the guarantee has become the main tool available for supporting a borderline applicant, because the Renters' Rights Act 2025 capped rent in advance at one month and removed the cash cushion that landlords previously relied on.

When a landlord should ask for one

A guarantor addresses a shortfall in income, and only a shortfall in income. Students, first-time renters, applicants with variable self-employed earnings and those arriving from abroad without a UK financial footprint are the common cases, and each of them is a person whose ability to pay is unproven rather than disproven.

That distinction matters. Where an applicant fails on income against a consistent rent-to-income ratio, a guarantor genuinely closes the gap. Where they fail on credit history or a poor previous landlord reference, a guarantor does not, because a guarantee secures the rent and not the conduct. From working with self-managing landlords across the UK, the guarantees that end in dispute are almost always the ones that were used to paper over a bad reference rather than a thin one.

What a landlord can require of a guarantor

Reference the guarantor to the same standard as the tenant: identity, credit check and income verification. The common benchmark is gross annual income of at least three times the annual rent, set higher than the tenant's own threshold because the guarantor is carrying their own living costs as well as a contingent liability. The guarantor should normally be UK-based, since a guarantee against a person with no UK assets is difficult and often uneconomic to enforce.

Give them the tenancy agreement and a separate written guarantee that states plainly what they are agreeing to cover, for how long, and whether their liability is capped. A guarantor who does not understand the extent of their exposure is a guarantor who contests it.

Guarantors and the Renters' Rights Act 2025

Two changes bear directly on guarantees, and both took effect on 1 May 2026.

A guarantor is no longer liable for rent falling due after the tenant's death. Section 19 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 provides that where a guarantee was entered into on or after commencement, it has no effect to the extent that it guarantees rent for the period beginning with the tenant's death. Where there is a sole tenant, every guarantor is released from future rent liability from the date of death. In a joint tenancy, the guarantor is released only if they are a family member of the deceased tenant, a category the Act draws widely enough to include grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins; a guarantor who is not a family member remains liable, because the tenancy continues for the surviving tenants. Liability for arrears, damage and other breaches arising before the date of death is unaffected. The provision is set out in section 19 of the Act on legislation.gov.uk.

Guarantees have become harder to keep alive across a rent increase. This is the change nobody announced, and it follows from the abolition of fixed terms rather than from any clause about guarantors. Under a rule dating to Holme v Brunskill (1878), varying a contract without the guarantor's consent can discharge the guarantee altogether. A rent increase is such a variation. Before May 2026, a landlord whose tenant declined to obtain a fresh guarantee could fall back on Section 21. That route is gone, and tenancies are now periodic and indefinite, so rent rises will recur across the life of the guarantee. The practical answer is to use a guarantee drafted to survive variation, stating expressly that it continues if the rent or the other tenants change, rather than relying on a form that assumes a fixed term.

What a landlord may not do

A guarantee is not a way around the fee rules. Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 a landlord cannot charge a tenant, or the guarantor, for the cost of referencing or preparing the guarantee, and a first breach carries a penalty of up to £5,000. Nor may a guarantee be used to sidestep the discrimination rules: since 1 May 2026 it has been unlawful to demand a guarantor from applicants because they receive benefits or have children when the same requirement would not be applied to anyone else. The requirement must follow from the affordability assessment, applied identically to everyone, and recorded. The wider regime is set out in our Renters' Rights Act hub, and the assessment itself in our guide to tenant referencing.

Frequently asked questions

What is a guarantor for rent?

A person who agrees in writing to pay the rent, and usually to cover other tenancy breaches, if the tenant does not. They are legally liable to the landlord for whatever the guarantee covers, and a landlord can pursue them directly rather than waiting for the tenant to default a second time.

How much does a guarantor need to earn?

Most landlords require gross annual income of at least three times the annual rent, so a rent of £1,200 a month points to roughly £43,000 a year. The threshold sits above the tenant's own because the guarantor is meeting their own outgoings as well as a potential liability. There is no statutory figure; the number is convention, not law.

Is a guarantor liable if the tenant dies?

Not for rent falling due after the death, where the guarantee was entered into on or after 1 May 2026. Section 19 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 releases them. They remain liable for arrears, damage and other breaches that arose before the date of death, and the tenant's estate remains responsible for rent until the tenancy is properly ended.

Can a landlord insist on a guarantor?

A landlord can require one where the affordability assessment supports it, provided the same criteria are applied to every applicant. What a landlord cannot do is require a guarantor because an applicant receives benefits or has children, which has been unlawful since 1 May 2026. A credit check and a consistent income test are what justify the request.