LSHTM Rent Guarantor Scheme | Accommodation

What is the LSHTM Rent Guarantor Scheme?

This is our way of helping you rent in London if you are being asked for a guarantor and are finding it difficult to find one. It is common for landlords to ask you for a UK based rent guarantor. If you do not have one, landlords may ask you to pay a high deposit. In some cases this can be six months rent in advance.

If you meet certain eligibility criteria, LSHTM can act as your rent guarantor, thereby helping you to secure your chosen accommodation.

Eligibility

For us to consider acting as your rent guarantor, you and the property you want to rent need to fulfil these criteria:

You need to:

Be a full-time registered student at LSHTM (staff registered as students are not eligible);
Have no outstanding debts with LSHTM;
Provide evidence of funding to maintain the rent payments for the duration of tenancy.

Your accommodation needs to:

Cost no more than £1,200 per calendar month. The entire rent you need to pay must be within this limit;
Be on a tenancy contract for one year or less.

Application Procedure

You should first find a property/room.
Before signing the tenancy agreement, you should complete the rent guarantor application form and submit it to rentscheme@lshtm.ac.uk along with the required supporting documents. All documents should be submitted electronically.
We will assess the application against the eligibility criteria and will inform you by email whether you have been successful. If successful, we will then contact the landlord directly to request relevant documentation from them.
Once we have received all documentation, we will contact you by email and we will send our guarantor letter to the landlord directly.

To see how LSHTM process your personal data, check our Student Privacy Notice.

Documents to submit with your application

You will need to provide:

Evidence of funding that will cover rent and living costs (e.g. bank statements showing family contribution, loan paperwork, bursary/scholarship award letters, wage slips).
Evidence of details of proposed tenancy including cost, number of tenants, start date and duration (a provisional email agreement or draft agreement will be fine).

What happens if I can’t pay my rent?

In the event that you believe you may not be able to pay your rent, you must contact us at rentscheme@lshtm.ac.uk so we can discuss this with you and attempt to find appropriate ways to support and advise you. If you are unable to pay your rent, we will step in and pay this on your behalf for an agreed period of time. We will then bill you for the rent we have covered and will agree a repayment plan with you.

When you are ready to apply

Please read the full LSHTM Rent Guarantor Scheme Terms & Conditions before you apply.

Then please complete the application form and email this with the required supporting documents to rentscheme@lshtm.ac.uk.

We aim to approve any new application within 3 working days. However, the total process depends on a number of factors outside of our control, for example, the speed with which your landlord provides the documentation we need from them.

If you aren’t eligible

There are a number of alternative rent guarantor schemes offered by external third party providers, such as:

Please note that any arrangements you make with external providers will be at your own risk and LSHTM will not pay for any associated costs.

Information for landlords

LSHTM are prepared to act as guarantor for our students who do not have an alternative guarantor and meet certain criteria (see above). The guarantee covers the rent only for one named student, even in a shared tenancy. Once a student’s application has been approved, you will receive a letter of introduction explaining about the scheme and listing the documentation that we require from you:

A signed copy of the tenancy agreement.
A copy of the HMO licence for the property, where applicable.
A copy of the gas safety certificate for the property.

On receipt of all documentation, you will be issued with a signed guarantee letter. As a university guarantor we are unable to sign any tenancy agreements or be subject to referencing.

Should our student become in arrears on their rent, you should notify us via email to rentscheme@lshtm.ac.uk as soon as possible. We will endeavor to arrange a transfer of funds for the arrears as soon as possible, but please note that this may take up to 28 days.

For a student in arrears, you are responsible for staying any possession proceedings against the student during the arrears period.