When you rent a property, there are a lot of things to consider, plan for and decide upon. If you are renting, either as a student or in the private sector, one of those details could be who you will ask to be your rent guarantor.

Rent guarantors are required in a number of different tenancy situations. And, while there aren’t any real restrictions on when a guarantor can be requested, there are certain times when it’s more likely you’ll need to provide one to secure a rental home.

The main reason landlords might require you to have a rent guarantor is because they feel there is a risk you might not pay your rent, on time and in full. Because of this, student tenants are typically required to provide a guarantor. Other types of tenants who might be asked to provide a rental guarantor include:

• First-time tenants.
• Where a credit check result isn’t as strong as the landlord would like.
• Private rental sector (PRS) tenants who rely on housing benefit for part of their rent, meaning there is a shortfall between the benefit payment and the full rent

However, a landlord has the right to request a rent guarantor whenever they think there is a risk their new tenant might not pay their rent as and when they should.

Who can be a rent guarantor?

In most cases, a rent guarantor is a family member or close family friend. Someone who the tenant is comfortable with seeing their rental agreement and other details, including notifications of when the tenant hasn’t paid the rent and falls into arrears. This happens because it’s a rent guarantor’s role to guarantee the rent will be paid – by agreeing to pay it themselves if the tenant fails to do so.

A landlord will check your preferred rent guarantor is able to pay your rent when you can’t. This is typically done through a credit check. A rent guarantor for a UK-based rental property and agreement must usually also live in the UK, because it’s easier for a landlord to follow up and enforce requests for rent from a UK-based person.

For UK students, it’s common for one of their parents or very close relatives – provided they live in the UK - to be the guarantor. However, if you’re older and your parents are no longer alive, or are retired and don’t fit the financial criteria required for guarantors, then a close friend who lives in the UK and does fit the criteria can also act as a guarantor.

Other options for when you don’t have family or friends in the UK

Of course, not every UK-based tenant has a parent or close family friend to rely upon as a suitable rent guarantor. That’s also the same for students from overseas and other tenants who aren’t from the UK and don’t have someone they feel comfortable asking to be their rent guarantor.

In these situations, it’s still possible to get a rent guarantor as specialist companies can offer this service to you. RentGuarantor is one of the companies that can provide the guarantor you need for the rental property you want.

We provide rent guarantor services to:

• Students.
• People in work.
• Tenants in receipt of benefits.

If your landlord has requested a rent guarantor because your credit check results weren’t quite to their standards, we might be able to help too. That’s because we assess each application on an individual basis and take all your details into consideration.

RentGuarantor has been created with both the tenant and landlord in mind, which means its an easy service for tenants to use and landlords to trust. We can pre-approve your rent guarantor application, then, once you’ve found a property you would like to rent, we’ll assess the details including the rent and let you know if we can approve your application and become your rent guarantor.

Services like RentGuarantor can be the straight-forward option to provide your landlord with the peace-of-mind they’re looking for and help you secure your chosen rental home.