Company lets have become noticeably more interesting to landlords since 1 May 2026, for an obvious reason: they are one of the few arrangements the Renters’ Rights Act does not touch. That makes them worth understanding properly — and worth being careful with.
What a company let actually is
A company let is a tenancy where the tenant is a limited company, LLP, public body or similar legal entity, rather than a person. The company signs the agreement and is liable for the rent. An individual — an employee, a director, a contractor — then occupies the property.
They are common in a few specific markets: employers housing relocated or project staff, NHS trusts and councils accommodating care and medical workers, universities housing visiting academics, and companies putting up contractors near a site.
Why it sits outside the Renters’ Rights Act
The Housing Act 1988 requires an assured tenant to be an individual occupying the property as their only or principal home. A company cannot meet that test. It has no home.
Because it cannot be an assured tenancy, none of the residential statutory framework applies. A company let is a common law tenancy governed by the contract you sign and by general property and contract law.
In practice that means the following do not apply:
- Conversion to a rolling periodic tenancy
- Section 8 possession grounds and the abolition of Section 21
- The Tenancy Deposit Protection scheme — and with it, the five-week deposit cap
- Tenant Fees Act restrictions
- The Renters’ Rights Act rent increase rules and pet request duties
The NRLA confirms company lets are among the arrangements that are not assured and therefore do not have to comply with the new rules.
The trap: it has to be a real company let
This is the part that catches landlords out, and it is not being widely discussed.
If the occupier is one individual using the property as their main home, and the company involvement is essentially a formality, courts are increasingly willing to look past the paperwork. The concern is that structuring a let this way purely to strip a resident of statutory protections can be treated as a misleading practice under consumer protection law.
A company let is much more defensible where there is a genuine business purpose. Ask yourself:
- Is the company paying the rent from company funds, as a business expense?
- Is the property being used for a business reason — relocation, project work, staff accommodation?
- Could the occupier change during the term, with the company nominating a replacement?
- Would the arrangement still make sense if that particular individual left the company?
If the honest answer to most of those is no, and it is really one person making their home there, treat it as a residential let and take advice before proceeding.
Get a director’s personal guarantee
Your tenant is a company, and companies can go insolvent. If it does, your claim is against an entity that may have nothing left.
A personal guarantee from a director makes an individual liable for the rent if the company defaults. On a company let this is not a nice-to-have — it is the single most important protective clause in the agreement. Get it signed, properly witnessed, and take the guarantor’s home address.
How to reference a company tenant
Reference the company and the occupier, not one or the other.
- Companies House. Check incorporation date, filing history, whether accounts are overdue, and director history. A newly incorporated company taking an expensive let deserves scrutiny.
- Company credit check. Standard commercial credit reporting.
- Latest accounts. Does the rent look proportionate to turnover?
- The occupier. Reference them as you would any tenant — they are the person who will actually live there.
- The director giving the guarantee. A guarantee is only worth the guarantor’s ability to pay.
Confirm the person signing has authority to bind the company.
Right to Rent still applies
A common and expensive misunderstanding: the company being your tenant does not remove your Right to Rent duty.
The obligation attaches to adult occupiers who will use the property as their only or main home. You must check the individual who moves in, before occupation begins, and repeat checks where their right to rent is time-limited.
Penalties are per occupier and substantial, with criminal liability in the most serious cases. Check current figures on GOV.UK before relying on any number you read online — they have been revised more than once.
If the company can swap occupiers during the term, build a clause requiring written notification before any change, so you can run the check in time.
Getting the property back
Here is where a company let is genuinely simpler than a residential tenancy in 2026.
There is no Section 8, and there are no statutory grounds to prove. Ending the tenancy is governed by what the contract says — the term, any break clause, and the notice provisions you agreed.
That cuts both ways. Where the agreement is silent, you fall back on common law, which can be unhelpful and uncertain. Do not use a residential AST template with the company name typed in. Have a proper corporate tenancy agreement drafted, with express provision on term, break rights, notice periods, repair obligations and permitted use.
The risks to weigh
- Insolvency. If the company fails, rent stops. Hence the personal guarantee.
- Occupier churn. Several people through the property in a year means more wear than a single household. Inventory and inspection clauses matter more.
- Rent-to-rent in disguise. Some “company lets” are really a business taking your property to sublet at a margin. Ask directly whether they intend to sublet, and put the answer in the agreement.
- Mortgage and insurance consent. Many buy-to-let mortgages and landlord insurance policies assume an AST. A company let may breach your terms unless you get written consent first. Check both before you agree anything.
That last one is the most commonly overlooked, and the one most likely to cause you a real problem.
Should you accept one?
A well-structured company let with a solid employer, a director’s guarantee and a genuine business purpose is a decent arrangement. Rent is often reliable, and you keep flexibility that residential lets no longer offer.
A company let used as a workaround, where one person is really making their home in the property, is a different proposition and carries risk you may not want.
The distinction is not paperwork. It is whether the arrangement is genuine.
- Companies cannot hold assured tenancies — a company let is a common law tenancy
- Renters’ Rights Act does not apply — no periodic conversion, no Section 8 grounds
- No deposit protection requirement and no five-week cap
- Right to Rent still applies to the individual occupier
- A director’s personal guarantee is essential
- Check mortgage and insurance consent before agreeing
- The arrangement must have a genuine business purpose
Related guides
- Tenant referencing and Right to Rent
- Landlord compliance deadlines 2026–2030
- The PRS Database explained
- Semi-commercial property: the tax saving and the catch
RentalReadyUK produces plain-English compliance guides for private landlords in England, written against primary sources and updated as rules change. This article is general information and not legal advice. Company lets fall outside the standard residential framework and the agreement carries all the weight — have one properly drafted rather than adapting an AST.