Rental Guarantees — When Your Income Isn't Enough on Its Own

In principle, any financially solvent adult — in practice, most often parents, grandparents, or other relatives. Employers are an option too, particularly for international employees. The key requirement is that the guarantor has a regular, provable income.

Under §551 of the German Civil Code (BGB), a rental guarantee is capped at three months' rent if a separate security deposit is also provided. Without an additional deposit, higher amounts are possible — one to twelve months' rent is common contractually.

A guarantee generally runs for as long as the tenancy — it doesn't end automatically when you move out. The guarantor must actively cancel it once it's no longer needed. With some digital guarantee products, this can be done conveniently through the provider.

A classic parental guarantee, where the parents themselves are liable, doesn't carry direct costs — only a processing fee for a digital guarantee document (€19.95 with RentCard, for example). Bank guarantees and deposit-insurance guarantees, on the other hand, involve annual premiums.

With a rental guarantee, a private individual (such as a parent) is liable for your rent. With a deposit guarantee (Kautionsbürgschaft), an insurer covers the deposit instead of you paying it upfront — you pay an annual premium for that. Both protect the landlord, but they work in legally different ways.

No. The landlord decides which forms of security they'll accept. That said, a digitally created, complete guarantee with verified guarantor information is accepted far more often in practice than a handwritten declaration without supporting documents.

Yes — digital guarantee documents are generally reusable. As long as the details stay current and your guarantor remains willing, you can submit the same guarantee for as many applications as you like.