For renters with no UK credit history

Renting in the UK With No Credit History in 2026

By Matthew Duckett · Published 3 September 2026 · 6 min read

The advice to offer six months' rent upfront to get around having no UK credit history doesn't work any more. Since 1 May 2026, a landlord can't require rent in advance beyond the first month, and any clause in your tenancy demanding more is void. Now it comes down to affordability and a guarantor. Sort both before you start viewing.

What changed on 1 May 2026

No rent of any amount can be required before you sign the tenancy agreement. Between signing and the tenancy's start date, a landlord can require at most one month's rent in advance. Once the tenancy has started, no further advance can be required, and any term demanding it has no legal effect — void, whether or not you already signed it.

You can still choose to pay more in advance voluntarily. What's changed is that nobody can make you, and a landlord asking you to as a condition of the tenancy is asking for something the law no longer allows.

Rental bidding is banned alongside it: a landlord or agent can't invite or accept offers above the advertised rent. You can offer below asking if you want to — the landlord doesn't have to accept it, but the invitation to bid upward is gone.

Breach carries its own penalty regime, separate from the deposit and fee rules below: a civil penalty of up to £7,000 for a first or minor breach, rising to up to £40,000 or prosecution for serious or repeated ones.

Why no credit history is still a problem

The change closes the shortcut. It doesn't fix the thing the shortcut was for. Agents look at affordability first, and most want household income of about two and a half to three times the annual rent. Then they run references and a credit check. If you've just arrived, that check comes back blank. Your credit record at home doesn't travel. I've watched this conversation happen hundreds of times over the last decade, and the families who get the home are the ones who solved it before the viewing.

The route that's left: a guarantor

With the six-months-upfront workaround gone, what's left is a guarantor. Either someone UK-based who will stand behind the tenancy, or a paid guarantor service if you don't have anyone who fits. A service is usually a one-off cost rather than an ongoing one. Compare a few.

Line this up before you start viewing properties, not after you've found somewhere. Good homes in the areas relocating families tend to want move within days, and turning up to a viewing without your guarantor question already answered puts you a step behind everyone else looking at the same flat.

What you can and can't be asked to pay

Aside from rent, two payments are the only ones a landlord can ask for before you sign: the tenancy deposit, capped at five weeks' rent where the annual rent is under £50,000 (six weeks at £50,000 or more), and a holding deposit, capped at one week's rent and refundable. If the landlord pulls out after taking a holding deposit, it has to be returned to you within seven days.

Everything else that used to appear on a moving-in cost sheet is banned: reference, credit or background check fees, inventory fees, admin or tenancy-drafting fees, and the cost of your Right to Rent check. If a fee isn't rent, a deposit, or on that short permitted list, it shouldn't be on your bill at all.

Right to Rent: the share code, and when to generate it

Before your tenancy can start, the landlord or agent has to verify your right to rent in England. If you hold digital immigration status, you prove it with a share code, generated at gov.uk/prove-right-to-rent rather than by handing over a physical document.

Generate it once you actually have a property in view, not before — it's time-limited, valid for roughly 90 days, so generating it too early just means doing it again later. And check that the name on it matches, exactly, the name on your visa and on every other document you're presenting — a mismatch there is one of the more avoidable ways to stall a right-to-rent check.

This is England-specific. Wales and Scotland run different rented-sector rules, so if your move is taking you to either, don't assume any of the above transfers across.

What to have ready before you view

• Proof of income. Payslips, an employment offer letter, or equivalent evidence an agent can assess against the rent.
• Passport and visa documents. The same documents your Right to Rent share code needs to match.
• Guarantor or guarantor service confirmation. Sorted — you want a yes you can point to at the viewing.
• A reference from a previous landlord, if you have one. Not everyone will, but if you do, have it ready rather than promised.
• Your Right to Rent share code ready to generate. You don't need it generated yet — just know exactly where to get it once a property is in view.

If you're asked for more than a month upfront

You can say no. Since 1 May 2026 a term demanding rent in advance beyond the first month has no legal effect, whether it's written into the agreement or asked for informally before you sign. Plenty of agents will still ask. Not all of them have caught up.

If you're relocating for a new role, the same kind of gap shows up elsewhere — a relocation allowance from your employer isn't automatically tax-free either. More about how we work is on the About page.

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General guidance only. Moovedin provides relocation guidance and planning support. This article is not legal advice, and it describes what the law requires of a landlord or agent in general — not what you personally will or won't be asked to pay. Verify specifics with the letting agent or landlord you're dealing with and, if you need it, a solicitor.