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ARTICLE · 04 NOVEMBER 2026

What Is It: An Authorised Guarantee Agreement

Field Seymour Parkes
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An authorised guarantee agreement (AGA) is a legal document that requires an outgoing tenant to guarantee their immediate successor's lease obligations when assigning a commercial lease. This overview examines when AGAs are required, who bears the costs, and the key legal considerations for both landlords and tenants in property transactions.

United KingdomReal Estate and Construction
Lauren Walker
Lauren Walker

An overview of what an Authorised Guarantee Agreement is and what it is used for in the context of property transactions.

What is an Authorised Guarantee Agreement?

An authorised guarantee agreement (‘AGA’) is a legal document comprising a form of guarantee given by an outgoing tenant (or assignor) to a landlord, promising to guarantee the performance of the lease obligations by the incoming tenant (assignee) after a commercial lease has been lawfully assigned. If the assignee subsequently defaults under the lease, the outgoing tenant may be liable to perform the lease obligations or even compensate the landlord for losses incurred.

The purpose of an AGA is to balance the outgoing tenant’s liability so that the tenant is only responsible for the performance of their immediate assignee, meaning that an AGA cannot include liability in respect of a successor in title of the assignee. AGAs were introduced by the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 (‘LTCA 1995’), which also

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