Claiming Against a Guarantor: How It Actually Works

A guarantor is the reassurance that makes a marginal application acceptable. Most landlords take one, file it, and never look at it again until the rent stops.

That is the wrong order. The moment to read a guarantee closely is before you rely on it, because by the time you need it the questions are all about what it says, and it is too late to fix.

Not legal advice. A guarantee is a contract and enforcement is a legal process. Where the sums are significant, take advice.

Read the document before you write the letter

Four questions, and the answers decide whether you have anything.

Was it executed properly? A guarantee given after the tenancy has already started generally needs to be a deed, because there is no fresh consideration once the tenancy has been granted. A deed has formalities: signed in the physical presence of an independent witness, who also signs. A guarantee that should have been a deed and was signed like a letter is the most common way this fails, and it fails completely rather than partly. The drafting guide covers when each applies.

What does it actually cover? Rent only, or rent plus damage, plus costs, plus the period after the fixed term? A guarantee limited to "the term" may say nothing about a tenancy that has continued periodically.

Is there a cap? Many guarantees cap liability at a number of months. That is a feature rather than a defect, but you need to know the number before you claim.

Is it joint and several? With more than one tenant, whether the guarantor guaranteed one named tenant or the tenancy as a whole changes what you can recover and from whom.

The situations where a guarantee stops biting

A new tenancy was granted. This is the big one. A guarantee given for one tenancy does not automatically cover a different one. Replacing a sharer, or ending a tenancy and granting a fresh one, usually needs a fresh guarantee. Landlords who "renewed" a tenancy without redoing the guarantee often find they have been unguaranteed for years.

The tenant has died. The Renters' Rights Act changed the position on guarantor liability where a tenant dies. If that is your situation, check it before writing to a bereaved family, because a guarantee drafted before the change may not say what its author assumed.

The tenancy was varied without the guarantor's agreement. A material change to the obligations guaranteed, agreed between landlord and tenant without the guarantor, can discharge the guarantor. Raising the rent is the obvious example. If the guarantee does not anticipate variations, get the guarantor's agreement in writing to any material change.

Nothing was ever demanded. Some guarantees require formal demand on the tenant first, or notice to the guarantor within a period. Skipping a step the document requires is a defence handed over free.

The order that keeps a claim intact

Only after that does a claim make sense, and by then most of it is already documented.

Do not let the guarantee replace the chasing

A guarantee is a backstop. It does not make the arrears go away and it does not pause anything: possession, if that is where this is heading, runs on its own track through the Section 8 grounds and the arrears calculation is done on the tenant's account, not the guarantor's.

The two run in parallel. Landlords who write to the guarantor and then wait lose weeks that the arrears clock was counting.

Where the ledger comes from

Everything above depends on one thing: a payment record you can produce without assembling it.

LetCompliance keeps the rent ledger as the tenancy runs, so paid, late, missed and partial are recorded when they happen rather than reconstructed later. Arrears are calculated continuously, the chasing sequence runs on its own, and the schedule you would attach to a letter already exists. The guarantee itself sits with the tenancy documents, e-signed where it was signed in the product, so the question of how it was executed has an answer.

That is the ordinary business of running a let. It just happens to be exactly what a claim needs.

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Common questions

Does a guarantee have to be a deed? Usually, if it is given after the tenancy has been granted, because there is no fresh consideration at that point. A deed must be signed in the physical presence of an independent witness who also signs. Getting this wrong tends to invalidate the guarantee entirely rather than partly.

Does the guarantee cover a renewed or replacement tenancy? Generally no. A guarantee given for one tenancy does not automatically extend to a different one. Granting a new tenancy, including when replacing a sharer, normally requires a fresh guarantee.

Can I claim against the guarantor without asking the tenant first? Read the document. Many guarantees require a demand on the tenant first, or notice to the guarantor within a set period. Skipping a step the guarantee requires gives the guarantor a defence for nothing.

Does raising the rent affect the guarantee? It can. A material variation of the guaranteed obligations, agreed without the guarantor, may discharge them. Where the guarantee does not anticipate variations, get the guarantor's written agreement to the change.

What if the tenant has died? Check the position before writing to the family. The Renters' Rights Act changed how guarantor liability works on the death of a tenant, and an older guarantee may not do what its wording suggests.

Is there usually a cap? Often, expressed as a number of months' rent. Establish the cap before you claim, because it determines whether the claim is worth making at all.