Free UK tenant guarantor agreement template.
Guarantee or Deed, picked for you.

A simple Guarantee Agreement is binding without a witness only when it is signed before or at the start of the tenancy — the grant of the tenancy is the consideration. Once the tenancy has started there is no fresh consideration, so the guarantee must be made by deed, and a Deed of Guarantee must be signed in the physical presence of an independent witness who also signs it. The tool picks the right form from the tenancy start date you enter; you can override it if you know which one you need.

Yes. A deed only takes effect if it is signed, witnessed and delivered correctly. The guarantor must sign in the physical presence of an independent adult witness (not the landlord, not the tenant, and not a close family member with an interest), who then signs and prints their name and address. A deed cannot be validly witnessed over a video call. If you are signing before the tenancy starts you can usually avoid this by using a simple Guarantee Agreement instead.

No. Section 16N of the Housing Act 1988, inserted by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, provides that a guarantor is not liable for rent that falls due after the tenant’s death. Our template reflects this so the guarantee does not ask the guarantor to sign up to something a court will not enforce. The guarantor remains liable for sums that accrued before the death, subject to the agreement’s liability cap.

Yes, and you generally should. The template states a liability cap expressed in months of rent — six months is a common default — so the guarantor knows their maximum exposure. A capped, clearly worded guarantee is both fairer and easier to get signed than an open-ended one. You can set any cap you like in the form; for unusual arrangements take legal advice.

The template is drafted as a continuing guarantee: it lasts for as long as the tenancy continues in any form, including when a fixed term rolls into a statutory periodic tenancy or (from 1 May 2026) operates as an assured periodic tenancy under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. That means you do not lose the guarantor the moment the original term ends. If the tenancy is replaced by a genuinely new tenancy, take advice on whether a fresh guarantee is needed.

Yes. A guarantor is taking on the tenant’s rent if the tenant defaults, so they should be affordability-checked in the same way — a common rule of thumb is income of around 30× the monthly rent for a tenant and higher for a guarantor, because the guarantor pays on top of their own housing costs. A name on a guarantee that has never been checked is worth very little. LetCompliance lets you capture the guarantor’s reference and affordability next to the agreement.

Because the free PDF is intended for review, redlining and sending to the guarantor to read before anyone signs — not for signature. The wording is sound, but signing a watermarked SAMPLE creates evidential and practical problems later. To generate a signable copy — sent to the guarantor to e-sign, or run through the deed witness flow, and stored against the tenancy with an audit trail — create a free LetCompliance account, 14 days free, no card needed.

No. It is a template to help you, not legal advice, and LetCompliance is not a law firm. A guarantee is a serious commitment for the person signing it, so the document you create and any decision to rely on it are your responsibility. For anything significant — corporate or overseas guarantors, multiple guarantors, high-value tenancies — have the final document reviewed by a qualified solicitor before it is signed.