Can a landlord charge a fee for a guarantor?

No. Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, a landlord must not require a relevant person to make a prohibited payment in connection with a tenancy of housing in England, and section 1(9) defines a relevant person as the tenant or a person acting on behalf of, or who has guaranteed the payment of rent by, a tenant. A guarantor therefore falls inside the ban, not outside it. The ban runs on tenancies of housing in England that fall within the Act's scope.

Does it matter whether the bill goes to me or to my guarantor?

No. A charge for setting up a guarantee, or for a reference on the guarantor, is a prohibited payment whether it is billed to the tenant or to the guarantor. If one has already been paid, it can be asked for back in writing, and the trading standards team at the local council enforces the Act. The permitted payments are a closed list, and neither of those is on it. The permitted list itself is set out in our guide to what landlords can and cannot ask for when you rent.

Can a landlord ask for rent up front instead?

Not before the tenancy is entered into. Since 1 May 2026, rent payable before an assured tenancy is entered into is a prohibited payment, so being asked for several months up front in place of a guarantor is no longer lawful. That is a rule about when a payment may be required, and not a ban on every payment of rent at the start of a tenancy. The amount has its own limit, and the limit follows how often rent is paid. GOV.UK puts the maximum a landlord can usually ask for at one month's rent where rent is monthly, and 28 days' rent where it is weekly. It allows more only where the tenancy was agreed by the local council because you were legally homeless, or the property is let as social or supported housing.

Only one of the two rules either side of signing is a prohibited payment. Rent payable before the tenancy is entered into is prohibited. Once it has been entered into, section 4B of the Housing Act 1988 makes a term void so far as it makes rent due in advance of the period it covers, apart from the initial rent during the permitted pre-tenancy period.

None of this reaches a tenancy entered into before 1 May 2026. And lodgers who live with their landlord, some student halls and some licences sit outside the assured tenancy framework these rules are built on. The guide to referencing fees lists every payment that is still permitted.

Common questions

Can a landlord charge a fee for a guarantor in England?

No. Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 a landlord must not require a relevant person to make a prohibited payment, and section 1(9) defines a relevant person as the tenant or a person who has guaranteed the payment of rent by a tenant. A charge for setting up a guarantee, or for a reference on the guarantor, is a prohibited payment whether it is billed to the tenant or to the guarantor.

Can a landlord ask for rent in advance instead of a guarantor?

Not before the tenancy is entered into: rent payable before an assured tenancy is entered into is a prohibited payment. Once it has been entered into the amount has its own limit, which follows how often rent is paid, at one month's rent where rent is monthly and 28 days' rent where it is weekly. Section 4B(2)(a) of the Housing Act 1988 means none of it reaches a tenancy entered into before 1 May 2026, and not every private letting is an assured tenancy, so check which kind you have before applying any of it.

Sources

The primary sources behind this guide. Where the law and a summary disagree, the law is what counts.

• Tenant Fees Act 2019, section 1 (prohibitions applying to landlords, and the meaning of relevant person), legislation.gov.uk
• Tenant Fees Act 2019, Schedule 1 (permitted payments), legislation.gov.uk
• Renters' Rights Act 2025, legislation.gov.uk
• Assured periodic tenancies: rent in advance and deposits, GOV.UK
• Housing Act 1988, section 4B (assured tenancy: prohibition of rent in advance except initial rent), inserted by the Renters' Rights Act 2025 from 1 May 2026, and not applying to a tenancy entered into before that date, legislation.gov.uk