Rent with no income but large savings?

This is the law of unintended consequences.

We have had several tenants over the years offer money up front. They have always been great tenants.

Many have come from abroad and have no UK credit history, some have been retired with no demonstrable income, one was in the middle of a HNW divorce (and actually bought the house off me when her divorse was finalised). It works.

It looks like any way to collect rent in advance will be unlawful. There will no doubt be some people suggesting sham agreements, but these will no doubt not meet scrutiny if they go to Court – as inevitably some will.

I look forward to the musings of fellow landlords.

Reply to the comment left by Graham Bowcock at 18/12/2025 – 12:18
If the prospective tenant can prove their level of savings / investments along with a reasoned argument as to why they have no job i would be happy to have them as a tenant. Thing is you can take a working tenant with provable income on day 1 and by day 5 they have lost their job and become a benefits tenant, Referencing is only a snapshot of a moment in time, If they can prove they can afford the rent would it be seen as discrimination if you didn’t offer them the tenancy?

Reply to the comment left by robert fisher at 18/12/2025 – 12:30
The issue I see is that lots of landlords are looking to insurance and guarantors. I believe that an insurance company would reject him so yes he has in effect been banned by the government.

Reply to the comment left by Graham Bowcock at 18/12/2025 – 12:18
Purely as an achademic thought… Would it be possible for money to be held in escrow by a third party (eg solicitor) and released to the landlord each month.

Alternatively (and aszuming it isnt a leasehold property with restrictions) the gentleman coukd form a company and make it a corporate let which isnt subject to the renters fights legislation. They woukd need to be careful how to deal with any “benefit in kind” issues but i suspect we will see such schemes popping up to mitigate rules put in place by people who have demonstrated they dont understand property

Is there a provider out there who will hold upfront rent in some kind of escrow (or is against the spirt of the legislation) and then pay monthly to the landlord (for a fee, of course)??

in the exact situation at present. T working p/t job but wont meet affordability yet cash in the bank from a divorce settlement.

Ended up only being able to accommodate her as she was able to provide a home owning UK resident willing to stand as an unlimited guarantor.

Whilst a landlord cannot demand rent up front eg 6 months, 12 months possibly even 3 years it is NOT illegal, under the Renters Reform Act, for a tenant to offer to pay up front and the landlord accept the offer.

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 18/12/2025 – 20:15
That may be true, but if the tenant later says rhe landlord insisted on it or he wouldnt rent me the property, I dont fancy your chances 🙄

I’m not sure the landlord can accept a voluntary offer of money up front, even into some kind of escrow account, before a tenancy agreement is signed. However, I don’t believe there is anything to stop the landlord accepting such payment after it is signed. There would still need to be some trust in the tenant though.

A bit of a workaround for a new problem that didn’t previously exist!

We need to be crafty in order to survive against our governments crafty tricks against us.

The best course of action is to write to your MP requesting that they put the question to the minister/secretary of state. A minister legally has to respond to an MPs questions and the more they have to answer them, the more they become aware of the problems they’ve created.
Even better if your potential tenant writes to their MP similarly.