Activist group Generation Rent is complaining about landlord requests for guarantors becoming “almost the norm.”

It claims that last year it found that 26% of renters who had moved more than five years previously had faced a guarantor demand. 

This rose to 28% for those who last moved three to five years ago, 34% one to three years ago, and 39% within the most recent 12 months.

“This is a 50% increase in guarantor requests. There is a real danger that guarantor demands are becoming the norm … What was once often only a requirement in some niche situations, is fast becoming a regular demand” it says in a statement.

The group also cites a number of anonymous tenants claiming to have been disadvantaged by having to nominate guarantors.

Now Generation Rent wants  guarantors only to be used for “those who can source one” – while tenants who say they can’t would not be required to provide one.

It is also demanding that the government amend the Renters Rights Bill to restrict the scenarios in which a landlord can legitimately request a guarantor, only to those cases in which a prospective tenant cannot prove that the rent is affordable to them. 

Controversially it then demands: “People  who have experienced care should also be able to use their local council as a guarantor, and the government should monitor the effectiveness of these schemes, with the view to potentially include other marginalised communities who disproportionately struggle to provide guarantors.”