The landlord (or their agent or the tenant referencing company they use) will usually want a guarantor to be someone who:

• lives in the UK, and
• is over 18 years old, and
• is a home owner, and
• has a good credit history, and
• has a steady job that gives them enough income to pay any debts that the tenant owes the landlord.
  This is because they want a guarantor who has the means to pay what you owe if you can’t or don’t pay for whatever reason.

You cannot act as a guarantor for yourself and you should not name anyone as a guarantor in any paperwork you complete without asking them first and explaining to them what it involves.

Although it’s very common for a guarantor to be a family member, lots of people don’t have anyone in their family who meets the landlord’s requirements to be a guarantor. If you are in this position, please see What to do if you can’t get a guarantor for more help.

Checks carried out on tenants and their guarantors

Landlords have to check if a potential tenant has a ‘right to rent’, by checking if they have permission to enter or remain in the UK. This rule applies to everyone wanting to rent a private property in England. To understand more about how this might affect you, look at A survival guide to starting a tenancy and right to rent checks.

Tenant referencing companies check out potential tenants for landlords. As well as checking if you have a right to rent in England they will also usually:

• check your credit history,
• contact your employer to check that you earn what you say you earn,
• contact your current landlord to find out whether you’re a good tenant, and
• check whether the bank details you’ve given the landlord or their agent are genuine.

This kind of information helps a landlord decide whether they want to accept you as a tenant.

The landlord or their tenant reference company are likely to carry out the same tenancy/credit reference checks on your guarantor as they do for you. So, you must expect the landlord to check any information you provide. Make sure it is up-to-date and correct. 

A guarantee agreement is a contract that sets out the guarantor's responsibilities. It must be in writing.

The contract is a legally binding agreement so the person signing it as the guarantor must be prepared to do what they promise to do in the agreement.

If the landlord calls on the guarantor to pay the tenant’s debt, the guarantor will have to pay what the tenant owes in the timescale set out in guarantee. If the guarantee doesn’t give any timescale then the landlord will usually provide the guarantor with details of the debt and demand payment within a specified time, for example, 14 days.

What the guarantor is legally responsible or ‘liable’ for depends on what it is written in the guarantee. Tenancy agreements vary, so it’s important to check yours carefully because there could be other costs or charges that your guarantor could be held responsible for.

Usually the guarantee will say that the guarantor is responsible for paying the rent if the tenant(s) cannot or do not for whatever reason. The guarantee may also say the guarantor must pay for any repairs if the tenant(s) damage the property, or costs such as cleaning service costs.
The terms of the guarantee may be set out in a separate agreement or included in a section of the tenancy agreement itself. Sometimes there may just be a short section, called a 'clause', in the tenancy agreement with a separate form for the guarantor to fill in giving their personal and bank details. The guarantor should make sure that they are clear on what their responsibilities will be, before signing anything.

Be aware that the law stops landlords from overcharging tenants and guarantors for things like holding deposits (to reserve a property), tenancy deposits and letting agency fees.

Landlords cannot ask for a tenancy deposit that is more than 5 weeks’ rent for accommodation where the total annual rent is less than £50,000. If the total annual rent for a property comes to more than £60,000, 6 weeks’ rent is most you can be charged for a tenancy deposit.

If you want to reserve a property by paying a refundable holding deposit, the landlord cannot ask for more than one week’s rent.

You can find more details on banned letting fees and how deposits must be capped in the GOV.UK How to rent checklist. 

Joint tenancies

If you share a property with other tenants under one tenancy agreement the law calls this a 'joint tenancy'. A joint tenancy agreement usually requires you and the other tenants to promise to pay all of the rent, not just your own share. So, you are responsible for paying your own rent but, if any of the other tenants do not pay, you can also be asked by the landlord to pay all or part of their share of the rent too. The law calls this being ‘jointly and severally liable’. In this situation, your guarantor is also likely to be responsible for all of the rent, not just your share.

Getting legal advice

It is very important that a guarantor reads the guarantee carefully so that they understand what they are signing up to. If there’s anything in it the guarantor doesn’t understand, they should get independent legal advice. They may be able to get independent legal advice:

• as a benefit of their home or car insurance. Guarantors can check their policy documents to see if this applies to them. Many insurance policies
• provide access to free legal advice about the law in England and Wales, for example, via a telephone helpline.
• as a benefit of trade union membership. If your guarantor is a member of a trade union, they can contact their union to find out what legal advice may be available.
• from their local advice centre or Law Centre. See Advcenow’s Help Directory for more information about where to go for legal advice.

"The guarantor is only liable if you burn the house down or something like that"

Not true! Your guarantor may be responsible for covering the rent, the cost of putting right any damage to the property you rent and any other costs that the tenancy agreement allows your landlord to charge you (and any co-tenants) if you break the tenancy agreement. If the guarantee makes your guarantor responsible for more than just unpaid rent, it is important that they read the tenancy agreement as well so they know what else they are guaranteeing. (You may hear the tenancy agreement called the ‘primary’ agreement and the guarantee agreement referred to as the ‘secondary’ agreement.)

If you rent a property jointly, for example, with friends or fellow students, or even people you don't know, you are likely to be jointly liable for the rent for the whole of the property - not just your individual share. If this is the case, the landlord will probably require your guarantor to guarantee all the rent for the whole property, not just your share.

So, for example, suppose you have paid your share of the rent but one of your co-tenants fails to pay theirs, you and/or your guarantor could end up being liable to pay their share for them. Many guarantors are unaware of this and this is why it’s important that your guarantor reads and understands both the tenancy agreement and the guarantee before they agree to act as a guarantor.

Your landlord may take legal action against you and/or your guarantor if you break any of the promises you make in your tenancy agreement. It is also important to understand that if the guarantor has to pay any money to the landlord on your behalf, they have the right to ask you to repay them and can take court action against you if you don’t.

When does a guarantor’s legal responsibility start?

This depends on the wording of the guarantee. If you are sharing a tenancy with other people and each of you has to have a guarantor, you should make sure that the guarantee makes it clear that your guarantor will only become bound by the guarantee from the point when all the co-guarantors have signed up to the guarantees. This is to protect your guarantor - without this, they could end up being responsible for all the debts owed by any of the tenants to the landlord.

However, even if you do make sure that the other guarantors have signed up, there is still the possibility that the co-guarantors 'disappear'. A landlord doesn't have to take action against all the guarantors but can chooses to pursue the one(s) that are most likely to pay up. So even if there are other guarantors, yours could find themselves liable for the full amount of any debt.

When does a guarantor’s legal responsibility end?

Again, this depends on the wording of the guarantee. The guarantor may be responsible for the fixed term of the tenancy, any extension period and for any rent increases.

Sometimes, if there are rent increases or a new tenancy agreement has been signed, you may need a new guarantee agreement as the old one may not count anymore. However, your guarantor may still be responsible if they agree to the change or if the guarantee agreement says the agreement keeps going on a rolling basis.

The guarantor will be legally responsible if you break any of the promises you made in your tenancy agreement before the tenancy ends and will remain liable for a period of six years from the date you break a promise. So, for example, if you fail to pay your last month’s rent, your landlord has 6 years from the date that the rent became due to take action against you and/or your guarantor.

Unless the guarantee agreement says otherwise, a guarantor carries on being legally responsible even if they fall ill or lose their job.

If you are declared bankrupt, your guarantor is likely to remain liable for your legal responsibilities under the tenancy (the extent of the guarantor’s liability will depend on the wording of the guarantee). Depending on the circumstances, if a guarantor is declared bankrupt, the landlord may become a creditor (someone owed money by the guarantor) in the bankruptcy for anything the guarantor owes. And if your guarantor dies, the landlord may be able to claim against the guarantor’s estate but, again, this will depend on the circumstances and what the guarantee says

Can you bring your guarantor’s responsibilities to an end?

It’s important to carefully read the guarantee agreement so that the guarantor understands when and how their responsibility ends. The guarantee operates as a contract between the landlord and the guarantor so, unless the landlord agrees to release the guarantor at an earlier stage, a guarantor will be liable for however long the guarantee lasts. As the tenant, you cannot make the agreement end earlier than it says in the guarantee.

If you want the guarantee to end, perhaps because a relative helped you out a few years ago and you want to lift this responsibility from their shoulders, you could ask your landlord if they’ll agree to release the guarantor. Maybe your track record of rent payment is good enough for your landlord to feel more confident about you? Maybe you could offer some incentive to the landlord to end the guarantee, such as an increased deposit or another guarantor?

If you think some terms of the guarantee are unfair to the guarantor, you or your guarantor could ask the landlord to agree to change the guarantee before the guarantor signs it. You probably have limited negotiating power so think about what to say and how to say it before approaching the landlord or their agent ‘demanding’ changes.

Typically, your guarantor may want to ask for changes that limit their responsibility, so that:

• the guarantee only applies for a set period of time, for example, 6 months or a year. In this situation it’s best if the agreement sets out both a start and end date for the guarantor’s responsibilities.
• they are only liable for any debt owed divided by the number of tenants sharing the property. So, for example, in a situation where you are sharing with 3 others, the guarantee only extends to 25% of the rent for any one month.
   

However, many landlords aren’t prepared to limit a guarantor’s liability. You may need to think of what else you can offer them by way of additional reassurance that you are going to be an excellent tenant in exchange for such an agreement. See Top tips on how to show a landlord you will be a good tenant.

Unfair contract terms

You may be able to talk to your council’s Trading Standards Officer about whether a particular clause in the guarantee provisions may be unreasonable or legally ‘unfair’. Alternatively, you can contact the Citizens Advice consumer helpline. You can find details of this service at Citizens Advice consumer helpline.

If a term is found to be unfair, it can’t be used and has no legal effect. If the landlord tries to enforce a guarantee agreement with an unfair term, the guarantor can ask the court to decide if the term is unfair. If the court agrees that the term is unfair, it will decide if the guarantor still has to pay.

We suggest you:

• talk to the person who may act as your guarantor and make sure they understand what’s involved.
• show them the tenancy or rental agreement and any guarantee provisions they would be signing up to if they agree to act as your guarantor.
• give them the link to Information for guarantors, or print them a copy.
• encourage them to get their own independent legal advice before they decide whether or not to act as your guarantor.
• offer them an easy way of checking that you are actually paying the rent as the landlord doesn’t have to warn them if you aren’t. For example, you could ask the landlord or their agent to email you confirming receipt of the rent and then forward this to your guarantor every month. Or you could send them a photo of your bank statement showing the rent going out each month. This way you reassure them all is well.
• work out a plan for meeting your tenancy obligations so you don't create problems for your guarantor. You could, for example, start saving a small amount of money every week into a ‘rainy day’ account so if you hit financial difficulty you can still pay your rent.

Disclaimer

The information in this guide applies to England.

The law is complicated. We have simplified things in this guide. Please don’t rely on this guide as a complete statement of the law. We recommend you try and get advice from the sources we have suggested.

The cases we refer to are not always real but show a typical situation. We have included them to help you think about how to deal with your own situation.