questions about Guanantors for 2nd year accomodation.

[NettleTea]

My son is looking to rent a flat next year with 4 other people. He had asked me to be a guarantor, but I dont think it would be possible as I am not a homeowner and am a carer for disabled DD, so my income / UC wont be enough for me to pass the credit check, even with a good credit history.

Ds's dad has said no, Im not sure why and Im not going there.

My parents are in their 80s and so too old, as believe that although pensions count there is a cut off age of 75. Plus my dad has MH issues and Im pretty sure he would not do it, or would spend the following years just uncontrollably anxious.

has anyone else been in this situation and had any advice.

bloody hell. excuse my spelling in the title... Guarantors........its been a loooooong day.

There are companies that can stand as guarantors but I think it costs a fee - eg https://housinghand.com/guarantor-service/

Contact the higher education establishment, I presume University. They should be able to help if there is no other alternative, I was very close to doing this myself one year.
But if his dad is able to act as a guarantor then I would swallow your pride and ask/tell him to. If your son is committed to his second year then the likelihood of anything going wrong is remote as long as you ensure it is only your son that is being covered which can be done.
Sorry for my presumptions, all the best.

he has asked his dad. His dad said no.

I have suggested he speak to his university. He is a long way from home - 8 hours drive, and doing really well, so he is definately committed to second year. He will have no trouble paying as he gets PIP and a higher rate student loan as a disabled student.

A couple of people on FB have said that their financial status was never checked, but they may have been homeowners. I said I would help him try to find a solution, if I wasnt able to be the guarantor

Are you / he in a position to pay 6 months' rent up front? That will sometimes be accepted in place of a guarantor. He'll also need to be able to pay the monthly rent for the first six months. After that, it gets taken out of the upfront payment.

I think it will depend on who your son has as a landlord.

The large agencies will probably insist on following whatever rules they have in place, but you may find that some individual landlords allow more flexibility.

I'm a student landlord and have let to quite a few students whose guarantors wouldn't pass based on income rules or home ownership. My theory being that it isn't fair they should miss out on a house with their friends through no fault of their own and nobody wants to be responsible for their Nan being taken to the small claims court.

Alternatively there are insurance based schemes for students who can't provide a UK guarantor, but this would increase your sons costs.

It may be worth checking the Renters' Rights Act 2025 some of which comes into force around May 2026 as I thikn it will ban paying rent up front (yet another awful one if its terrible provisions) but it does have some special rules for annual student contracts so may be that is excluded.

I refused to be guarantor for mine but I did pay their rent (no loans) and their father (we are divorced) was guarantor but paid nothing so I think he got the best deal really. We both work full time. For my children it would have meant guaranteeing the 9 students in the house not just my child and I just didn't want to do it although their friends were also quite well off and their parents so in our case it wasn't really a very big risk.

I dont suppose you are in Falmouth are you!!!

I will pass all the info onto him.

The Renters Rights Bill forbids upfront payment, even if you offer it, which is absolutely bonkers. One of DDs prospective housemates is having a nightmare as she can't find a suitable guarantor and her offer to pay upfront has been refused due to the bill. Looks like her only option is to pay an agency to act as her guarantor, if she can. Otherwise she'll have to stay in halls instead of living with her friends. Feel so sad for her.

@Geminijust

Interesting. Thanks. I did it for DS1 two years ago now, so things must have changed.

I signed up as a guarantor for my dd for second year uni and they just asked me for my name address etc but no questions about my job/ salary/ finances which I thought was very odd. In the past when I've acted as guarantor they've wanted lots of info but not for this one.

Rules have changed. The new Rental Rights Act comes into force in about May.

No fixed term tenancies, no payment in advance and more.

There are some exemptions for privately owned student halls, but unfortunately landlord organisations were not able to convince the Government that student tenancies should be treated differently to any other. This delivers a whole range of problems. What if one student drops out and gives notice mid way through the year? The whole tenancy could then become void. What if the tenants refuse to leave at the end of the year? The landlord would not be able to issue a S21 so would have to let the next years tenants down. And so on.

This was the first result on Google. A landlord view so gloomy.
www.landlordzone.co.uk/news/the-renters-rights-act-2025-and-student-tenancies

In terms of guarantors, it is likely that landlords will become more fussy and more demanding.

There are other factors at play as the private rental sector is being hit by a blizzard of additional rules and regulations. I now need a selective licence on one property that I normally let to new graduates. One requirement is that I take out landlord insurance (previously I only had building insurance.) My insurers then require that the tenants require referencing, and that referencing required meeting affordability criteria. (Gone are the days when I had the discretion to take someone with a CCJ or whose start up had just failed, or who were moving to a new job in the UK.) With no payment in advance allowed, it was not even worth showing the property to the several overseas post graduate students who responded.

The biggest blow is still to come. In 2028 all new tenancies need to be in properties that qualify for a Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C. Most of my property is Victorian and EPC D and it would be hugely expensive to get them to C. I have two years leeway if the tenants stay. If not I have to sell, as I wont be able to relet. Many larger student properties will be older houses which will be in the same position.

The Bill doesn't come in until May 1st so it was fine & pretty common in the past. I even phoned the agency on their behalf to check if there was a way around it or if there was an exemption for students, but no. The agent said it was going to cause so many issues, especially for overseas students who can't get a UK based guarantor.

I would offer to do it yourself and let them run the checks whilst also looking at any other options. At least then you can show you’re willing. It’s difficult as the others won’t want to risk losing the house whilst he tries to get a guarantor. Elderly parents are vulnerable too. I would ask in the wider family and friends just in case anyone is willing to help.
I can understand those that refuse to do it including his dad as it’s a real risk - students could drop out and you’d still be expected to pay for the whole year.
If your son can work and save some money he may be in a better position as this will come up every year from now on. It’s really tough to be poor.

It's awful. They really didn't think this through did they......

My daughter is so stressed over losing their house and she's not the one who can't get a guarantor 😥

They might be lucky and have one set of parents who are both well off and pragmatic. A friend reckoned that given the joint and several aspect of being a guarantor and the fact she was well off (she ran a hedge fund) she was the low lying fruit that would be on the hook if any of them defaulted. She had also met her son's friends and trusted them. So she acted as guarantor for the whole house. One boy was American and needed a UK guarantor. His parents were very grateful that my friend had stepped in and sorted the problem so took her out for a very nice meal when they came over to visit.

Complicated, but would any of the others be willing to act as guarantor for your DC as well. You could then make some sort of private commitment to them.

Sorry to ask a question not directly related to your thread but my son also gets PIP - does this mean he will get a higher rate maintenance loan? He's starting in 2026 and I have read something about this before but can't really find anything official on SFE which tells me the criteria or possible amount. Is this different to DSA? Thank you.

If you get landlords insurance with direct line, you don’t have to do checks on tenants, but they won’t insure you for unpaid rent if you don’t. That’s what I have in place for my selectively licensed flat.

yes he will get a little more. when you apply for student finance you need to put that he has a disability and will need to provide some evidence of that to DSA. that will give him around £2K extra student loan. Plus DSA will do a needs assesment on the things he has proof of a diagnosis for (it doesnt have to be an NHS one) and may offer funding for additional support for things like personal or academic mentors and software / tech depending upon what his needs are. The university themselves should also have an accessibility team who may do things like prioritising his choice of halls accommodation. The funding is to even up where they need the help compared to another student. So for example they may provide a basic computer in order to run the software he may be offered, which will be part subsidised - so you pay £200. But if you are needing the fanciest MacBook for your particular course, they will allow you to buy that, less the subsidy price, through them (you pay an upgrade price) because everyone on the course would be needing that - so you cant be seen to get an advantage.

Likewise my daughter gets funding for a taxi to college due to medical issues, but they pay the fare, less the equivilent train fare that she would have otherwise needed to pay of she didnt have the medical problem.

Its not a nasty assesment either - they really do want to offer what they can to help. It seems sad that the equipment and tech that could be so helpful at a lower level isnt available unless you actually manage to get to uni - makes you wonder what so many kids could achieve with this kind of funding available to schools to access licences for kids to use it.

You may be willing to take on more risk, but many landlords will want insurance to cover non payment rent, and those that don't may well be equally strict about having guarantors.

I also assume that referencing is as much about tenant quality as about rent guarantees.

In my case I was forced by the council to buy insurance so bought the cheapest. To be honest I have no idea whether rent payments are guaranteed or not, indeed I suspect not. Whichever way the cheapest insisted that my tenants passed independent referencing. There was so much demand (25 enquiries within 24 hours and 8 groups of applicants ready to view next day) that I had no need to consider those who did not fit insurers requirements.

@NettleTea thank you so much this is really useful information

Yes but you weren’t even bothering with landlord insurance until it was mandated, so presumably you’re not bothered by taking on that level of risk.

I was trying to be helpful because you said YOUR insurers were requiring checks, so I just wanted to let you know there were other options that didn’t require checks.

It wasn’t a comment on the OP or indeed any other landlord’s position, I was replying to you and you alone.

good news update, Dad has agreed, so long as they get 'responsible for own child' contracts