Can you rent in Colombia without a guarantor in 2026?

Prepare a clear solvency pack: passport, visa or Cédula de Extranjería, employment or client contracts, and recent income or bank evidence: Apply for a residence permit, Get a Cédula de Extranjería, and Open a bank account. Remote workers can show stable foreign employment and recurring transfers. Retirees can show pension evidence and liquid savings.

The cleanest common substitute is a póliza de arrendamiento or seguro de arrendamiento from a Colombian insurer that names the landlord as beneficiary. You pay a non-refundable premium (often discussed as a share of annual rent) and meet the insurer’s income multiple. Several months prepaid can also work when the money sits in a bank-regulated instrument such as a CDT-style hold or fiducia rather than a landlord’s personal wallet: Rental contracts and deposits. Read exit and refund clauses carefully so prepaid cash is not trapped.

Use furnished mid-term housing in El Poblado, Laureles, Chapinero, or Usaquén for the first weeks while you finish cédula and banking, then hunt a longer lease with a stronger file: How to rent a home and Living in Medellín. Shared flats and some private owners skip codeudor requirements more often than doorman towers. Agency introductions help when the agent already trusts your paperwork, yet never pay invented “guarantee company” fees without a written insurance product you understand: Avoid rental scams.

Remember that Ley 820 bans cash security deposits for urban residential leases. Do not “solve” the guarantor gap by handing over an illegal depósito that is hard to recover. Barrio competition differs: tourism-facing Bocagrande stock and quieter Cali corridors flex differently on documents.