Surge in demand for guarantors under Renters’ Rights Act

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 03/06/2026 – 10:28
Aaah….I see. That’s very helpful information.

So the extent of the risk for the guarantor is effectively in perpetuity as all tenancies are now periodic, but limited to six months rent. The outstanding questions then are what does the guarantor do if the guarantor no longer wants to be a guarantor and should you accept a guarantor if the guarantor is elderly.

Ive not been able to find any reference to a six month cap in the RRA or on any other landlord/legal website. It didnt make it into the final bill. It appears google AI is hallucinating this

Reply to the comment left by DPT at 03/06/2026 – 11:40
There were a lot of changes. The Labour Renters Rights Act is nothing like the rental reform bill the conservatives were proposing. And there were last minute changes….I was aware that the proposal to ban guarantors was ditched.

So does anyone on this site know in the final iteration of the Labour Renters Rights Act, now that all tenancies are periodic, what are guarantors actually on the hook for if they sign up?

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 03/06/2026 – 10:28
I also understand (I might be wrong) that there could also be issues with the ‘validity’ of the guarantor if the rent is increased etc?
Also where do you stand if the guarantors own circumstances change (ie they loose their job) or even the house they personally own. Essentially the idea over having a ‘back up’ to call upon goes out of the window doesn’t it?

How the heck would you know if the guarantor’s circumstances change?

Surely it also means that there is a total shift of claiming rent arrears (for example) for the LL from the T to the guarantor. Isn’t that a more difficult paper chasing exercise while you may also have the parallel issue of getting the actual tenant out of the property still?

Can you still use the rent arrears mandatory ground if you court sees you have agreed a tenancy on the basis of a guarantor being in place? If the T turns round and says the guarantor is now on the hook for the rent arrears not them? Can the court refuse to evict the T is the LL is in the process of extracting the rent from the guarantor in T’s place?

Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 03/06/2026 – 11:54
Well, I could be wrong (I have been in the past) but that was my understanding (6 months maximum) – definitely needs to be clarified as does what happens if the guarantor dies/does not want to be a guarantor any more .. what a murky mess

I have been insisting on a home owning guarantor for a few years now. Unfortunately Land Registry is now so hopelessly out of date you can’t reply on it being correct.

I understood that under RRA you can now only insist on a guarantor if the tenant fails affordability? I’d like to have one on all my tenancies – even if it is limited to 6 months rent, that’s a good incentive for the guarantor (often a family member) to move things along

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 03/06/2026 – 11:58
I think there are a lot of questions. If it’s only six months max then presumably that means that even if all tenancies are periodic the guarantor’s liability didn’t just become unlimited and most questions relate to the fact that the guarantor isn’t now much of a guarantee.

But there’s a general thrust to the Labour Renters Rights Act. One of the things Labour took away was the ability for a tenant to offer and for a landlord to accept rent upfront. That’s now banned but if I’ve understood that correctly, not for social housing. I BELIEVE from things I’ve read elsewhere on this site that if a social housing provider (e.g. council) wants to offer you six months rent upfront the social housing provider is still permitted to do it. And that of course raises the question, if a social housing provider such as the council offers you rent for six months upfront and you take it, then in six months time they decide that the tenant is no longer eligible for benefits, can you get rid of the tenant? How do you evict? The general thrust of the Labour Renters Rights Act seems to me to be get landlords to take tenants for six months, then once they are in they are in and you might have to use the courts to get them out.

Whichever way you look at it under the Labour Renters Rights Act credit-referencing just became far more important.

And so did the function of the courts. Anyone know how the courts are doing at the moment? Anyone had any experience of trying to get a tenant out now that the Labour Renters Rights Act is in force?

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 03/06/2026 – 07:22
No, the Renters’ Rights Act does not limit a guarantor’s liability to six months’ rent.
While an amendment (Amendment NC14) was proposed during the bill’s passage through Parliament that aimed to cap a guarantor’s financial liability at six months’ rent, this clause did not make it into the final legislation

Reply to the comment left by Luke P at 03/06/2026 – 13:38
OK so that means then that a guarantor’s liability is potentially unlimited? I’ve also only read on this site that a social housing provider is still permitted to pay a landlord six months’ rent upfront even though nobody else can do it anymore.

Looks as though if this is correct the guarantor could also be on the hook if the courts aren’t working. Anybody know how the courts are doing at the moment?

Still not clear what will happen if the guarantor want to no longer be a guarantor – how on earth do you get the tenant out .. or isn’t that allowed – clear as mud