Right-to-rent checks and guarantors for international students

Overview

International students in England renting privately face two distinct but connected practical hurdles: the landlord’s legal duty to carry out a right to rent immigration check, and the landlord’s commercial demand for a UK-based guarantor or a large amount of rent paid in advance. The first is a legal requirement imposed on landlords by statute. The second is not a legal requirement at all but a matter of contract and market practice. Understanding which is which helps you know where there is room to negotiate and where there is not.

Right to rent checks: the legal framework

Under the Immigration Act 2014, landlords and letting agents in England must check that anyone aged 18 or over who will occupy the property as their only or main home has the right to rent before the tenancy begins. This applies to tenants, sub-tenants and paying house guests, not only the person named on the agreement. The scheme applies in England only. It does not operate in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, so a student renting in Wales is not subject to right to rent checks in the same way.

For an international student, the check is time-limited because their permission to be in the UK is time-limited. A student with status under the points-based immigration system (a Student visa) or the EU Settlement Scheme must normally prove their right to rent through the Home Office online service using a share code, rather than by handing over physical documents. The landlord verifies the share code against the student’s date of birth and keeps a record. For a time-limited right to rent, the check must be carried out no more than 28 days before the tenancy starts.

If the student cannot produce acceptable documents or a valid share code, the landlord can use the Home Office landlord checking service to request a check directly. A positive check gives the landlord a statutory excuse against the civil penalties and potential criminal liability that attach to renting to someone without the right to rent.

Checks when the student is still overseas

A common issue is that international students often accept a tenancy while still abroad and only arrive shortly before term. The guidance recognises this. A landlord can carry out the online check via a live video link while the student is still overseas, and for students living abroad or returning students the check can be tied to the point when the student takes up occupation of the property rather than to the technical start date of the tenancy agreement. This means being outside the UK when signing does not, by itself, prevent a compliant check being done.

Time-limited right and follow-up checks

Because a student’s immigration permission expires, the landlord’s statutory excuse is not indefinite. The landlord is expected to carry out a follow-up check when the earlier permission is due to expire, and to report to the Home Office if a tenant no longer has the right to rent. For a student, this practically means keeping your visa valid and up to date, and being ready to provide a fresh share code if your permission is extended, for example when moving from one year of study to the next or onto a Graduate visa. Letting your leave lapse can put both you and your landlord in a difficult position.

How this affects students in practice

The right to rent scheme itself should not be a barrier to a student who holds valid immigration permission, because a Student visa gives a right to rent. The main friction points are practical rather than legal. Landlords and agents sometimes wrongly treat a foreign passport or non-UK nationality as a reason to refuse, which risks unlawful discrimination. The Home Office code of practice makes clear that checks must be applied consistently to all prospective tenants and must not be used to discriminate on the basis of nationality or ethnicity. If you are refused a tenancy specifically because you are foreign, rather than because of a genuine failed check, that may amount to unlawful race discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, and you can complain or, in a serious case, bring a claim.

Guarantor requirements: the commercial reality

A guarantor requirement is entirely separate from right to rent. There is no law requiring a tenant to have a guarantor. It is a contractual protection the landlord asks for so that, if the tenant fails to pay rent or causes damage, the landlord has someone else to pursue. The difficulty for international students is that landlords and agents typically insist on a guarantor who is a UK homeowner or resident, and most overseas students do not have a UK-based relative or contact who qualifies. This is a widespread practical barrier and reflects the landlord’s assessment of enforcement risk, not any legal disqualification of foreign students.

When no acceptable guarantor is available, landlords commonly ask instead for a substantial amount of rent to be paid in advance, sometimes several months or even a full year. This is currently lawful, though it is expensive and ties up a large sum. Some students use commercial guarantor services, which act as a paid guarantor in return for a fee, as an alternative to finding an individual guarantor.

Deposit and fee protections

Whatever route is used, certain protections still apply. Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, for an assured shorthold tenancy the security deposit is capped at five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is under fifty thousand pounds, and letting fees such as charges for referencing or guarantor administration are prohibited. A landlord cannot lawfully charge you a fee simply for using a guarantor or for carrying out a right to rent check. Any tenancy deposit must be protected in a government-approved scheme. Rent paid genuinely in advance is treated differently from a deposit and is not subject to the deposit cap, which is one reason landlords ask for advance rent rather than a larger deposit.

Reform on the horizon

The law in this area is changing. Reforms to the private rented sector are being brought in that are expected to restrict the amount of rent a landlord can demand in advance, which would directly affect the common workaround of asking overseas students for large upfront payments. Because implementation dates and the precise final rules are still being finalised, you should check the current position at the point you are signing, as the exact limits on advance rent and related requirements may have changed by then.

Practical next steps

1. Get your immigration documents in order early. Make sure you can generate a Home Office share code from your UKVI account, and offer to complete the right to rent check by video link if you are still abroad.

2. If a landlord or agent hesitates because of your nationality, point out that a valid Student visa gives a right to rent and that checks must be applied to everyone equally. Keep a written record of any refusal that appears to be based purely on your being foreign.

3. Line up a guarantor solution in advance. If you have no UK-based guarantor, ask the agent whether they accept a commercial guarantor service, and compare the cost of that against paying rent in advance.

4. Before agreeing to pay a large sum of rent in advance, check what the current rules allow, get a clear written breakdown of what is deposit and what is advance rent, and confirm the deposit will be protected in an approved scheme.

5. Keep copies of everything: the tenancy agreement, deposit protection certificate, receipts for any advance rent, and correspondence about referencing and guarantors, so you can challenge any prohibited fee or unprotected deposit later.

Where the answer could change

The outcome depends on several facts you have not given: whether the property is in England or Wales, since right to rent does not apply in Wales; the exact type of your immigration permission and how long it has left to run; whether the letting is a standard assured shorthold tenancy or student halls or a licence, which affects the fee and deposit protections; and the precise date you sign, given the reforms limiting advance rent. If you tell me where you are renting and what visa you hold, the position can be made more specific.