A guarantor is someone who agrees to cover the tenant’s rent and liabilities if the tenant does not, and landlords in England can still ask for one. What changed on 1 May 2026 is the context around it. With rent in advance capped at one month, the guarantor has become the main tool for letting to an applicant whose income does not clear a standard affordability test — and at the same time, requiring one in a way that screens out benefit claimants or families has become unlawful.
So the question is no longer “can I ask for a guarantor”. It is “can I ask this applicant for a guarantor, and what can I hold them to”.
Where a guarantor requirement becomes discrimination
Refusing to let to someone because they receive benefits, or because they have children, is a breach carrying a civil penalty of up to £7,000. That includes rules that are neutral on their face but have that effect in practice.
The obvious example: a policy of requiring a UK homeowner guarantor from every applicant whose earned income is below a set multiple of the rent. Applied to a working applicant it is a reasonable risk control. Applied to an applicant whose income is largely benefit income, it becomes a requirement that most such applicants cannot meet — which is exactly the outcome the Act prohibits. The same logic catches “guarantor required for anyone with children in the household”.
The safer position is a guarantor policy triggered by an objective, income-source-neutral test — total household income from all sources, verified — applied consistently and documented. If you use an agent, make sure the instruction you have given them passes the same test, because the liability follows you.
What a guarantor can be held liable for
Only what the guarantee deed actually says, and only for as long as it says. This is where most landlords are exposed without knowing it.
Scope. A guarantee limited to “rent” does not cover damage, cleaning, or court costs. If you want those covered, the deed has to say so.
Duration. This is the big one since May 2026. Fixed terms no longer exist — every tenancy is periodic and can run indefinitely. A guarantee drafted for “the term of the tenancy” now has no natural end point, which raises a real question about enforceability and is likely to be tested. A guarantee that is expressed to continue for the duration of the tenancy, including any statutory periodic continuation, and which the guarantor signed with that made clear to them, is on much firmer ground than one drafted for a 12-month AST and never updated.
Rent increases. If you raise the rent by Section 13 notice, a guarantee that does not contemplate variation may not extend to the increased figure. Serve a copy of the notice on the guarantor as a matter of routine.
Execution. A guarantee should be executed as a deed, signed and witnessed. An emailed “yes, I’ll cover it” is not a guarantee you would want to rely on in the county court.
If you are being asked to be a guarantor
Read the duration clause before the amount. You are agreeing to an open-ended liability on a tenancy that has no fixed end date, for someone else’s conduct, in a property you do not control.
Ask for three things. A copy of the tenancy agreement and the written statement of terms, so you know what obligations you are standing behind. A cap — a stated maximum, or a defined period after which the guarantee falls away. And a clause requiring the landlord to notify you at the first missed payment rather than at the point arrears have built to a possession claim.
Also ask whether a guarantor is needed at all. If the applicant’s real problem is a thin credit file rather than affordability, better referencing may solve it — see how referencing should be done.
Alternatives worth considering
Rent guarantee insurance transfers arrears risk to an insurer rather than a family member, which is often a better fit for a landlord whose concern is purely financial. Check the referencing conditions in the policy — most require checks to a specified standard, and a claim can fail on that alone. What landlord policies typically exclude.
Guarantor services — commercial providers who act as guarantor for a fee paid by the tenant — have grown quickly since the advance rent cap. They are a genuine option, but check who is actually on the hook and whether the provider is financially substantial enough to matter.
Nothing at all. For a well-referenced applicant with a stable income, a guarantor adds paperwork and a discrimination risk without adding much protection. The reason people reach for it is usually the applicant who does not quite fit, and that is the case to think about carefully rather than reflexively.
If arrears do start
Notify the guarantor immediately and in writing. Waiting until the arrears are at possession-claim level makes recovery harder and, depending on the deed, may prejudice the claim against the guarantor entirely. What to do in the first two weeks of arrears applies to the guarantor relationship as much as the tenant one.
The wider set of changes that came in on 1 May is summarised in our Renters’ Rights Act guide.
General information, not legal advice. Property Lounge, Guildford.
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