Your rights

Do I need a guarantor to rent in England?

Guide · about 7 min read · Reviewed August 2026

No law in England says you must have a guarantor, and none stops a landlord asking for one, provided the way it is applied stays within discrimination law. A guarantor is a person who agrees to pay your rent if you do not. Whether one is asked for is a decision for the landlord, not a legal requirement placed on you.

Two things changed on 1 May 2026, when the main tenancy provisions of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 came into force in England. For an assured tenancy that is not social housing, which covers most private renting, rent payable before the tenancy is entered into became a prohibited payment, so being asked for several months up front instead of a guarantor is no longer lawful. And a guarantee entered into on or after that date stops covering rent for the period beginning with the tenant's death.

Not every private letting is an assured tenancy. Lodgers who live with their landlord, some student halls and some licences sit outside the framework described here, so it is worth checking which one you have before applying any of it. This guide covers England, and it is general information rather than legal advice. The rules differ in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the detail sits in the legislation linked at the end, so check there before you rely on it.

What is a guarantor actually agreeing to?

A guarantor agrees to meet the tenant's obligations if the tenant does not meet them. In most written guarantees that means the rent, and it often means more than the rent: damage beyond fair wear and tear, and other sums owed under the tenancy. The guarantee is a contract in its own right, so its wording sets the scope, not custom and not what was said at a viewing. The new provisions in the Housing Act 1988 treat a guarantee as covered whether or not it is in writing, whether or not it sits inside the tenancy agreement, and whether or not it also guarantees sums other than rent. That is worth knowing, because an informal promise can still be a guarantee.

When do landlords ask for a guarantor?

In practice the request tends to come up where someone has little recent renting history in England, has arrived from abroad, is studying, or has income that is seasonal or self-employed. Those are observations about how the market behaves rather than criteria anyone should adopt, and being asked is a common event rather than an unusual one. There is no statutory threshold and no standard practice, so it varies between landlords and between agents. A guarantor policy still has to avoid unlawful discrimination, including indirect discrimination.

The law draws the line in two places. Sections 33 and 34 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 make it unlawful to discriminate against people with children or against people who claim benefits, including by applying a practice designed to make benefits claimants less likely to enter into a tenancy. That Chapter applies to private assured tenancies in England, and section 42 excludes social housing and supported accommodation from it. The Equality Act 2010 applies to protected characteristics in the ordinary way. Section 41 of the same Act then states that nothing in that Chapter prohibits taking a person's income into account when considering whether that person would be able to afford to pay rent. So income can be taken into account, while a blanket bar on a whole group cannot. Our guide to what landlords can and cannot ask when you rent covers the wider version of that line.

Can you be charged 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. Applying that definition, a guarantor falls within the ban rather than outside it, so 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.

The payments that are permitted are a closed list in Schedule 1 to that Act. In outline:

rent;
a tenancy deposit, capped at five weeks' rent where the annual rent is under £50,000 and six weeks' rent where it is £50,000 or more;
a holding deposit, capped at one week's rent;
payments on a change to the tenancy, or on early termination at the tenant's request;
utilities, communication services, television licence and council tax;
a default payment where the tenancy agreement provides for it, such as a replacement key or interest on late rent.

Anything outside that list is a prohibited payment. Our guide on whether a landlord can charge you for referencing works through the same list, and our guide to how deposit protection works in England covers the deposit side.

Can a landlord ask for six months' rent up front instead?

Not for an assured tenancy within the scope of the Act, which is most private renting in England and does not include social housing assured tenancies. Section 9 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 amended Schedule 1 to the Tenant Fees Act 2019 so that a payment of rent is a prohibited payment if it is payable before the tenancy is entered into and the tenancy is an assured tenancy. The same section inserted a new section 5A into that Act, which stops a landlord or a letting agent inviting, encouraging or accepting such a payment. Section 8 separately inserted section 4B into the Housing Act 1988, so terms of a private assured tenancy providing for rent to be due in advance are of no effect, apart from the initial rent due in the permitted pre-tenancy period. Both took effect on 1 May 2026, and they were commenced for assured tenancies that are not social housing assured tenancies. The practical result, for those tenancies, is that a demand for months of rent before the tenancy is entered into is a prohibited payment, so that particular alternative to a guarantor is no longer open. That is one reason the guarantor question comes up more often than it used to.

What if you cannot find a guarantor?

There is no legal answer to this one, because there is no legal requirement in the first place. There are, though, more options than most people are told about, and the choice between them is yours in every case.

A guarantor does not have to be a parent. It can be any individual who is willing to give the guarantee and meets whatever the landlord asks of them, so a practical first step is to ask the landlord what they would need from that person, then ask one.
Ask what the requirement is actually for. Landlords set their own conditions, and some may consider a longer initial term or a joint application instead.
Some local councils run rent deposit or guarantor schemes for people who would otherwise be shut out of private renting. What is offered varies a great deal between areas, so it is worth asking your own council what it runs.
Commercial guarantor services exist, where a company gives the guarantee to the landlord and the renter pays a fee for it. Those companies are separate businesses, independent of VEYLO X. VEYLO X has a commercial arrangement with one provider in that market and receives a commission from them if a renter uses that provider, and adds no charge of its own to what the renter pays them, so treat this as information and not a recommendation. When VEYLO X opens, the options open to you at this point are set out in the app.
Free, independent advice on any of this is available from Citizens Advice and from Shelter, neither of which charges renters.

Sections 33 and 34, which apply to private assured tenancies in England and not to social housing or supported accommodation, are also worth reading if the request looks selective. Asking for a guarantor only from people who claim benefits, or only from households with children, may amount to unlawful discrimination, although whether it does in any particular case turns on the facts and on the tests in the legislation.

What should you check before agreeing to be a guarantor?

If you are the person being asked, usually a parent or a close relative, the document you sign matters more than the conversation around it. Read the guarantee itself rather than the summary of it, and find four things in the wording.

Scope. Does it cover only rent, or damage and other sums as well?
Duration. How long does it run, and does it continue for as long as the tenancy does? This matters because private tenancies in England are now periodic and roll on rather than ending on a fixed date.
Joint and several liability. In a shared house this can mean one guarantor is pursued for the whole rent rather than one share of it, which is usually the single most expensive line in the document.
Ending it. Is there any mechanism to bring the guarantee to an end, and on what notice?

Anyone asked to act as a guarantor should have time to read it, and for a long commitment it can be worth taking independent advice first.

What happens to a guarantee if the tenant dies?

Section 19 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 inserted section 16N into the Housing Act 1988. Where an individual guarantees the rent under an assured tenancy and became a party to the guarantee on or after 1 May 2026, the guarantee has no effect so far as it covers rent for the period beginning with the tenant's death. How that applies depends on the tenancy:

one tenant, who dies: the guarantee stops covering rent from that death onwards;
joint tenants, where all of them die: it stops from the last of those deaths;
joint tenants, where the guarantor is a family member of only one of them: it stops from the death of that family member.

Family member is defined broadly and takes in a spouse, civil partner or cohabitee, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, siblings, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, and cousins. The rent for the period in which the death falls is apportioned by days. Guarantees entered into before 1 May 2026 are not covered by this.

Keeping your own paperwork together

Being asked for a guarantor usually arrives at the same time as a request for documents, from the renter and often from the guarantor as well, and that part is easier when the paperwork is already in one place.

VEYLO X is a neutral record keeping platform, and it is not open yet. What has been built so far is a free renter profile, where a renter writes their own details once and keeps them in one place. The profile belongs to the renter, and it is not shared unless the renter shares it. Nothing in a profile is written by us, and we do not run checks on renters or on guarantors. VEYLO X does not arrange lets, does not match people to homes, and does not assess anyone or decide who gets a home. In the meantime, our renter document checklist for England sets out what is usually asked for, and our guide to what you need to rent in England if you are moving from abroad covers the same ground for a first tenancy here.

Common questions

Do I need a guarantor to rent in England?

No law requires one, and none stops a landlord asking for one, provided the way it is applied stays within discrimination law. It is a decision for the landlord, and in practice it comes up most often where someone has little recent renting history in England, has arrived from abroad, is studying, or has income that varies. A guarantor agrees to pay the rent if the tenant does not.

What can I do if I cannot find a guarantor?

A guarantor does not have to be a parent, so it can be any individual willing to give the guarantee, and a practical first step is to ask the landlord what they would need from that person. It is also worth asking your local council whether it runs a rent deposit or guarantor scheme. Commercial guarantor services exist as well, where a separate company, independent of VEYLO X, gives the guarantee and the renter pays a fee. VEYLO X has a commercial arrangement with one provider in that market and receives a commission from them if a renter uses that provider, and adds no charge of its own to what the renter pays them, so this is information and not a recommendation. The choice between any of these is the renter's, and Citizens Advice and Shelter give free independent advice.

Can I be charged a fee for a guarantor?

No. Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 a guarantor counts as a relevant person, so a charge for setting up a guarantee, or for a reference on the guarantor, is a prohibited payment in England, whether it is billed to the tenant or to the guarantor.

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

Not for an assured tenancy within the scope of the Act, which is most private renting in England and does not include social housing assured tenancies. Since 1 May 2026, rent payable before the tenancy is entered into is a prohibited payment, and terms making rent due in advance have no effect, apart from the initial rent due in the permitted pre-tenancy period.

Does a guarantee end if the tenant dies?

For a guarantee entered into on or after 1 May 2026, it has no effect so far as it covers rent for the period beginning with the tenant's death. In a joint tenancy it applies once all of the tenants have died, or once the guarantor's family member among them has died. Guarantees entered into earlier are not covered.

Sources

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

This article is general information, not legal advice. It reflects the position in England as at August 2026. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 provisions described here came into force on 1 May 2026 for assured tenancies that are not social housing assured tenancies, under SI 2026/421. For your own situation, and before signing or asking anyone to sign a guarantee, take independent advice.