How to rent in the UK with no credit history or UK guarantor
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Send the letting agent your job offer or contract, an employer reference and bank statements instead of UK payslips. If they still want a UK guarantor, ask your employer for help or use a guarantor service. In England, you can't be asked for more than 1 month's rent before the tenancy starts.
Why do letting agents want a UK credit history and a guarantor?
Before a landlord agrees to let to you, the letting agent usually asks a referencing company to check who you are, whether you can afford the rent and how you've paid bills in the past. If you've just moved to the UK, it finds very little to check, so the agent may ask for a guarantor instead.
A UK credit check reads UK records only, so years of paying rent and bills abroad don't show up in it. A guarantor is someone who agrees to pay your rent if you don't. Landlords usually want one who lives in the UK and passes the same checks as you.
The income check is a multiple of the rent. Referencing companies commonly want your yearly income to be at least 30 times the monthly rent, and a guarantor's to be at least 36 times. One large referencing company's published guidelines (2023) set exactly those levels, written as 2.5 and 3 times the yearly rent. No law sets them, and agents can set their own. To check your own case, divide your yearly salary by 30: on £36,000 a year, that's a rent of up to £1,200 a month. Our salary vs rent calculator shows what a salary leaves after tax, rent and council tax in UK cities and every London borough.
Being asked for a guarantor is common. In England, one in five private renters were asked for one before they moved in, the English Housing Survey for 2024 to 2025 found.
Referencing should cost you nothing. GOV.UK lists the payments a landlord or letting agent in England can ask a tenant for, and a fee for referencing or a credit check isn't one of them. A landlord can't charge you for a credit check in Scotland or Wales either.
You may be asked for a holding deposit while the checks run, and in England that's at most 1 week's rent. The same GOV.UK guidance says you should get it back unless you give false or misleading information, change your mind, don't reply to requests for information or fail a right to rent check.
An agent in England must also check your right to rent before the tenancy starts. That's a check of your immigration status, separate from referencing, and if you have an eVisa you prove it with a share code. When your permission to stay has an end date, the landlord's guide says the check can be done no earlier than 28 days before you sign the tenancy agreement. So while you're still abroad, the agent can agree the tenancy in principle and check your right to rent nearer the time, before you move in. GOV.UK says you don't need to prove your right to rent in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
What can I send instead of UK payslips?
Send proof of the job and of your income and savings. For the job, that's your signed offer letter or contract and a reference from your employer. For income and savings, it's recent bank statements, from home and from your UK account once you have one. Ask the agent which of these their referencing accepts before you apply.
- Your offer letter or contract, showing your salary, your start date and how long the job lasts.
- A reference from your employer. Ask HR to confirm your salary and start date to the referencing company, and give the agent their email address.
- Bank statements for the last few months, showing your income and any savings.
- A reference from your last landlord, even if you rented abroad.
- A credit report from your home country. It won't count in a UK credit check, but you can offer it as extra evidence.
Some referencing companies accept a job you haven't started yet, as long as you start soon after you move in. The guidelines linked above count a job that starts within 31 days of the tenancy start date as if you already had it, or within 62 days for jobs that company lists as professional, such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists and teachers. If you start later, you'll likely need a guarantor.
What to send depends on whether you've started the job and been paid yet:
| Your situation | What to send | What to ask the agent |
|---|---|---|
| You have a job offer but haven't started. | Your offer letter or contract, an employer reference and bank statements from home. | Whether their referencing accepts a job you haven't started, and how soon after you move in you need to start. |
| You've started but haven't been paid in the UK yet. | Your contract, your bank statements and a letter from HR confirming your salary and start date. | Whether a letter from HR can take the place of payslips. |
| You've been paid in the UK for a month or two. | Your UK payslips and UK bank statements, plus your contract. | Whether that's enough, or whether a letter from HR can cover the months you don't have. |
How does a guarantor service work?
A guarantor service is a company that acts as your guarantor for a fee. If you don't pay the rent, the landlord can claim it from the company, and you'd still owe the money. Check that the letting agent accepts the service before you pay, because some landlords don't.
These services usually ask you to find the home first, then check your income and your visa. Some say on their websites that they accept people on work visas, including Skilled Worker and Graduate visas, and some also ask for a second person to sign with you, often a family member, who can live outside the UK. Fees are either monthly or a single payment, so compare what you'd pay in total for the time you expect to stay.
A landlord in England can ask you for a guarantor but can't make you buy a guarantor service. GOV.UK's guidance for tenants says you can choose to use one, but your landlord isn't allowed to make you pay for a loan, pay for insurance or start a contract for a service as part of your tenancy.
Can my employer help?
Ask HR before you agree to rent a home. Some employers that hire from abroad offer temporary housing for your first weeks or help with a deposit or moving costs. Others will confirm your salary in writing for the referencing company, and a few will act as your guarantor.
Temporary housing is worth asking about even if it's short. Some NHS trusts, for example, house nurses they recruit from abroad for their first weeks. Once you have UK payslips, a UK bank account and a UK address, referencing has more to check when you apply for a flat.
Some referencing companies accept a company as guarantor if it's well established, so a guarantee from your employer can work in place of a person. The message at the end of this guide asks HR for all of this at once.
Can I pay rent up front instead?
In Scotland and Wales, yes. In England, only within limits since 1 May 2026: a landlord or agent can't ask for, encourage or accept any rent before you both sign the tenancy agreement, and after you sign can ask for at most 1 month's rent before the tenancy starts.
| Country | Rent in advance |
|---|---|
| England | None before you both sign. After you sign, at most 1 month's rent before the tenancy starts, or 28 days' rent if you pay weekly, GOV.UK says. Once the tenancy has started, you can choose to pay rent early, but no one can make you. |
| Scotland | Up to 6 months' rent before you move in. mygov.scot says the landlord must tell you what period it covers, and that landlords usually ask for it when you have no guarantor. |
| Wales | A landlord or agent can ask for rent in advance, gov.wales guidance says. The guidance doesn't give a limit. |
A lot of advice online still tells you to offer six or twelve months up front. In England, that advice is out of date, and GOV.UK says you can complain to the local council if a landlord or agent asks you for rent in advance, or accepts it when you offer.
A bigger deposit isn't an option in England either. If the rent is under £50,000 a year, the deposit can be at most 5 weeks' rent. In Scotland, a landlord can ask for a deposit of up to 2 months' rent.
Is a room in a shared home easier to get?
It can be. A room costs less than a flat, so you need a lower income to pass the check. It also gives you a UK address while you build up payslips and a UK bank record.
If you rent your own room in a shared house in England and the landlord doesn't live there, you usually have an assured periodic tenancy, with the same rules on rent in advance as a flat. If you live in your landlord's own home as a lodger, different rules apply.
Can an agent turn me down because I'm new to the UK?
An agent can check that you can afford the rent and ask for a guarantor. The Home Office's code of practice for landlords and letting agents in England says they must not turn you down because you aren't British, or treat you less well because your permission to stay ends on a set date.
The code, in force since 1 October 2026, gives an example of indirect discrimination: a rule that tenants must have lived in the UK for more than five years, because migrants are less likely to meet it. It doesn't deal with guarantors, so an agent can still ask you for one. If you think an agent has discriminated against you, the code says you can take a complaint to a county court.
The agent must check the right to rent of every adult who will live there. GOV.UK says it's against the law to check only people it thinks aren't British.
What should I say to a letting agent?
Tell the agent what you have before they ask: your job and salary, your start date and what you can send instead of UK payslips. Then ask how their referencing treats a job you haven't started yet and whether they accept a guarantor service. Change the details in square brackets.
Hello, I'd like to rent [address] from [date]. I'm moving to [city] to work as [job title] at [employer], starting on [start date], on a salary of £[amount] a year. I'm new to the UK, so I don't have UK payslips or a UK credit history yet.
I can send my signed offer letter, a reference from my employer's HR team and my bank statements for the last [number] months. Could you tell me whether your referencing accepts a job I haven't started yet, whether you need a UK guarantor and, if you do, whether you accept a guarantor service?
To ask your employer for help:
I'm looking for somewhere to live before I start on [start date], and letting agents are asking for UK payslips or a UK guarantor, which I don't have yet. Could HR confirm my salary and start date to a referencing company if they ask? I'd also like to know whether you offer temporary housing or help with a deposit or moving costs, and whether the company could guarantee my rent.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my credit history from my home country?
Not in a UK credit check, which reads UK records only. You can still send a credit report from home as extra evidence for the agent to read. Proof of your job and your income usually matters more.
Can my guarantor live outside the UK?
Often not. Many agents want a guarantor who lives in the UK and passes the same checks as a tenant, with a higher income. Some guarantor services ask for a second person to sign with you and accept one who lives abroad, so ask the agent and the service before you apply.
Do I lose my holding deposit if referencing turns me down?
In England, usually not. GOV.UK says you should get it back unless you give false or misleading information, change your mind, don't reply to requests for information or fail a right to rent check. If the landlord keeps it, they must tell you why in writing.
Can a letting agent charge me for referencing?
No. In England, a fee for referencing or a credit check isn't one of the payments a landlord or letting agent can ask a tenant for. In Scotland and Wales, a landlord can't charge you for a credit check.
Do landlords in Scotland and Wales check my visa?
Not for right to rent. That check applies in England only, so you don't need a share code to rent in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. A landlord or agent anywhere can still check your identity and whether you can afford the rent.
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