Written by Amy O’Donoghue
LSE has announced plans to extend its guarantor scheme to home students from low-income backgrounds, following a campaign from the LSE Renters’ Collective. The announcement was made on 17 November 2025 on the Renters’ Collective’s Instagram page.
Previously, the guarantor scheme was solely open to international students and estranged/care-experienced home students. The scheme also stipulates that students must find their housing through the University of London housing website or London Student Pad. Rent also must not exceed £1000 per month. The specificity of these requirements has brought LSE under criticism in the past, with students accusing the university of inadequate provisions for those without a guarantor.
LSE Renters’ Collective, which first launched in July 2025, has been lobbying LSE Residential Operations to update the conditions of the scheme. Following a meeting with the Head of Residential Operations, they announced that the scheme would be made open to home students in receipt of the LSE bursary, which is open to those with a household income of £50,000 or less.
The bursary scheme itself has come under contention in recent months, following the expansion of its income brackets and increase in payment amounts. Whilst students generally viewed this change positively, the benefits were only felt by incoming students — second and third years continued to receive the lower amount, which some students expressed their disappointment at.
The changes to the guarantor scheme have been agreed to by LSE Residential Operations but still need to be approved by the Financial Management Committee.
The scheme will remain limited to housing found on the UoL housing website or London Student Pad. LSE cited “fears around compliance” as the reason for this, meaning they were concerned landlords from other platforms may not accept the university as a viable guarantor.
LSE Renters’ Collective will continue to lobby LSE for their other goals, which include expansion of the accommodation bursary to 2nd and 3rd year students, an improvement to living conditions in halls, and the expansion of the guarantor scheme to include housing found on other platforms such as Rightmove or OnTheMarket.
When contacted for comment, a spokesperson for LSE Residential and Catering Services Division said:
“The Residential and Catering Services Division at LSE are delighted that approval was passed for the expansion of the Rent Guarantor Scheme to include Home UK undergraduate students who are in receipt of an LSE bursary. This will allow access to the Rent Guarantor Scheme for students who will potentially benefit the most from it, and we are very happy to be able to support these students in this way.”
“This expansion has been approved on a trial basis for the next two years and during this time the School will assess the impact of the new criteria and success of the scheme.
“The current requirement for properties to be listed on StudentPad or the University of London Housing site is in place as these platforms require properties and landlords to meet certain minimum standards, which helps ensure quality for students. We have discussed this with the Chair of the SU Renters Collective and are happy to continue working with the SU on alternative ways to ensure minimum standards are met, if the requirement to use these specific sites were to be removed or amended in the future. We are very happy to continue these discussions but at present there are no specific plans to propose further changes.”
