A New Landlord Law Guarantee Deed for the Renters’ Rights Act Era

With the new housing regime under the Renters Rights Act 2025, the first stage of which is due to come into force on 1 May 2026, comes the need for new thinking on guarantees.

The way it works pre May 2026

A landlord will ask a tenant to provide a guarantee if they are worried about the tenant’s ability to pay.

Normally, under the guarantee document, the guarantor will be guaranteeing the whole of the tenant’s liability. 

If the tenancy is a joint and several one, any money due under the tenancy is payable by all of the tenants – as they are all collectively ‘the tenant’.  So if we have four joint tenants and one of them fails to pay rent, the landlord can sue all of them or any of them.

Thats what joint and several liability means.  So the guarantor’s liability will be the same.  But most guarantors will just want to guarantee THEIR relative.  Not all the other tenants.

On the other hand, in most cases, guarantees will be fairly short-lived as they will not last after the rent goes up.

This is due to a rule in a very old case,  Holme v Brunskill from 1878.  This says that if a contract is varied without the guarantor’s consent, the guarantee will no longer be valid.

So in most cases, if the rent increases, the guarantee will lapse.

This has not been a big problem, though, as the landlord can require the tenant to obtain a fresh guarantee.

If the tenant fails to do this, the landlord has the option to end the tenancy under section 21.  Even if the landlord does not overtly threaten this, the knowledge that the landlord can do this means most tenants will do as asked.

After 1 May 2026 when the Renters Rights Act comes into force.

The situation will change significantly.

The Renters Rights Act will abolish both fixed terms and section 21 (as all assured shorthold tenancies will be converted to assured periodic tenancies).

So it will be less easy for landlords to get tenants to sign a fresh guarantee every time the rent goes up. 

There may be other circumstances when a new guarantee would be advisable.  But most tenants, if they know their rights, will probably refuse to provide one.

Which means that many low-income tenants, unless they are prepared to pay up for a commercial tenant guarantee service, may find it hard to persuade landlords to take them on.

So I have been trying to find a solution for Landlord Law members.

The Landlord Law solution

The new guarantee deed I have developed works differently.

The guarantor guarantees one person only – described in the deed as the “Guaranteed Tenant“.

This means that:

• The rent liability can be apportioned between the tenants
• Liability for unidentified damage can also be apportioned
• The guarantee clearly states that it continues while the guaranteed tenant lives in the property, even if the tenancy itself changes
• Landlords can choose to cap the guarantor’s liability at a fixed amount.

This approach makes the guarantee fairer to the guarantor while also making it more likely that the guarantee will survive rent increases and tenancy changes.

As the guarantee specifically and clearly confirms that the guarantee will continue even if the rent or other tenants change, should avoid the Holme v Brunskill problem.

The fact that it is fairer to guarantors will also help landlords withstand challenges to the guarantee, as under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 the fairness of consumer deeds is something Courts must take into account.

The new guarantee deed

This is now available for Landlord Law members (for properties in England).

It has also been adapted so it can be used with all tenancy types, including company lets and other common law tenancies.