- You don't legally need a guarantor as a self-employed tenant, but letting agents often ask for one when your income is harder to check than a regular payslip.
- In England, a guarantor request is harder to get around than it used to be because, since 1 May 2026, landlords can't take more than one month's rent upfront, even if you offer it.
- If nobody you know meets the guarantor criteria, a professional rent guarantor like Rentmigo may be able to act as your guarantor instead, as long as you're approved and your landlord accepts it.
You've got a year of accounts, your profit covers the rent, and you've sent the letting agent everything they asked for. Then the reply comes back: your application has been accepted, but only if you can provide a guarantor.
Self-employed renters get this reply all the time. And in England, it's become harder to work around since the first stage of the Renters' Rights Act came into force in May 2026. No law says you need a guarantor, but if the agent's checks can't fully confirm your income, a guarantor is now often the only thing standing between you and the tenancy.
If you can afford the rent but don't have a UK homeowner or high earner who could guarantee it, Rentmigo looks at what you can actually afford and may be able to act as your guarantor instead.
See whether Rentmigo can act as your guarantor
Do self-employed tenants still need a guarantor in 2026?
No, there's no legal rule saying that self-employed tenants have to have a guarantor.
When you're asked for one, it comes from the landlord, the letting agent or the referencing company they use to check applicants.
Referencing is the set of checks an agent runs before offering you a tenancy: your identity, your credit history and whether your income covers the rent. The result is usually a pass, a fail or a "refer", which means the application needs something extra before it can go ahead. For self-employed applicants, that something extra is very often a guarantor.
Because this is the agent's ask rather than the law's, a different agent might not ask at all. You can read more about whether landlords can legally require a guarantor.
What's changed for self-employed renters in England?
The changes below apply to England only. Scotland and Wales follow their own rules.
Scotland already caps rent in advance at six months, and Wales has no equivalent cap, so the May 2026 changes don't apply there.
Offering rent upfront is no longer an option
Self-employed renters used to be able to offer six or twelve months' rent upfront instead of a guarantor.
In England, that has now stopped. Since 1 May 2026, landlords can't ask for more than one month's rent in advance, and they aren't allowed to accept extra months even if you offer them. No rent at all can be taken before the tenancy agreement is signed.
That removes a workaround many people relied on. Goodlord's State of the Lettings Industry Report 2025 found that one in five renters had paid rent in advance to secure a home because they couldn't provide a guarantor.
Rent in advance isn't the same as your tenancy deposit, which is a separate amount of money held against damage or unpaid rent.
We've looked at whether paying rent upfront was ever better than using a guarantor if you want the full comparison.
Landlords are more careful before you move in
Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026, so landlords can no longer end a tenancy with a no-fault notice.
They now need a specific legal reason, known as a Section 8.
The main impact of this is that many landlords put more weight on referencing at the start. A borderline self-employed application that might once have been accepted with six months rent paid upfront is now more likely to come back with a request for a guarantor.
We explain more about why more landlords are asking for a guarantor in 2026.
What a family guarantor is now signing up to
Fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies have been abolished and replaced with assured periodic tenancies.
A periodic tenancy rolls on month by month with no set end date, so a guarantee can last as long as you stay, depending on how it's worded. Rent can now only be raised through the formal statutory process, and no more than once every 12 months. Even so, the guarantor could be covering a higher rent in future years than the one they first agreed to.
Some parents and friends are happy with that. Others are a bit more hesitant once they realise there's no fixed end date anymore.
Will you still be asked for a guarantor once you've been trading for a year?
You're less likely to be asked once you have a full year of accounts, but it isn't guaranteed.
Tenants who have been self-employed for less than a year often can't prove their income yet, which is when a guarantor is most likely to be requested. Once you're past that point, the question becomes how your income measures up against the agent's affordability check.
Most referencing platforms look for annual income of roughly 30 times the monthly rent, although agents and referencing companies set their own criteria.
For self-employed tenants, the figure they usually count is your profit, not your turnover.
Here's a hypothetical example. According to the Office for National Statistics, the average private rent in England was £1,459 a month in August 2026. At 30 times the rent, an agent would look for annual income of about £43,770.
A sole trader who turns over £70,000 but declares £38,000 profit after business costs would fall around £5,800 short. That can happen even though far more money passes through their business account each year.
Limited company directors can hit a similar problem. If you pay yourself a small salary and take the rest as dividends, an agent who only counts the salary on your payslips could see an income well below what you actually draw from the business.
If you're still getting your paperwork together, our guide on whether it's harder to rent while self-employed covers the documents agents usually ask for.
Can a self-employed parent or friend be your guarantor?
Yes, a self-employed person can be a guarantor, but they'll usually face the same checks you did.
Self-employed guarantors are generally expected to have traded for at least a year and to provide an acceptable reference, just like self-employed tenants. Some agents also want a guarantor to earn more than a tenant would need to, because they could be covering your rent on top of their own costs.
Many agents also prefer a guarantor who owns a home in the UK, and that rules out more people than you might think. The English Housing Survey 2024-25 found that 65% of households in England were owner occupiers, which means roughly a third of households have no homeowner in them. If your parents rent, live overseas or are self-employed with uneven income themselves, they may not qualify even if they're keen to help.
Our guide on who can legally be a guarantor in the UK goes through the usual criteria in more detail.
What to do if nobody you know can be your guarantor
Use a professional guarantor
A professional guarantor is a company that acts as your guarantor instead of a friend or relative.
Rentmigo was set up for tenants who can afford their rent but don't have a guarantor to act for them, including self-employed workers, freelancers and contractors.
When you apply, you can combine different sources of income, such as self-employment income, salary and savings, so we look at your whole financial picture rather than one figure on a form.
The fee is between two weeks' and one month's rent depending on your application, and it's never more than one month's rent. You pay it once, and it covers you for up to three years at the same property. That matters now that tenancies in England no longer have a fixed end date.
Not every landlord accepts professional guarantors, so check with your agent before you apply. You can compare costs in our guide to how much a rent guarantor service costs, or see how a professional guarantor compares with a family guarantor.
Apply jointly with someone on a salary
If you're renting with a partner or friend who's employed, the agent may assess your incomes together. Before you sign, make sure you both understand joint liability.
On a joint tenancy, the landlord can pursue any of the tenants for money owed, not just the person who missed their share. If one of you stops paying, the other could be asked to cover the full rent.
Check for a council or charity scheme
Some councils and charities run rent guarantee schemes that can cover unpaid rent up to a set amount. Eligibility and availability vary a lot between areas, so contact your local council's housing team to see what exists near you.
If you've already been asked for a guarantor
Before you do anything else, ask the agent two things: whether they accept professional guarantors, and what the guarantee needs to cover.
Asking early matters in busy areas, where another applicant may be ready to sign while you're still working out who could guarantee your tenancy.
If the agent is happy with a professional guarantor, Rentmigo's application takes around five to ten minutes online.
We'll review your affordability and give you a decision as quickly as we can. The fee only becomes non-refundable once your tenancy starts and we've officially taken on the role of your guarantor.
If you've found the property and a guarantor is the only thing holding your application up, Rentmigo may be able to fill that gap.
