Guarantor advice please!!

lisa2905

My husband is going to act as guarantor to his son (my step-son) for a flat he is at uni and has decided to rent a flat but through a private landlord, not through the university. I have a few issues with form my husband has to fill in as guarantor. It wants passport number/ DOB/national insurance number/bank account number/employment details/addresses past and present basically his life !! Now I understand address info full name and a bit of detail. But surely NI number bank account details passport details. I am all a bit weary about this but is this normal, I am worried about Data Protection. What does the landlord need to know such detail for and are they allowed to ask/have such detail. Thank you to anyone who can give me a bit of advice on this !!

BruceyBonus

I took private accommodation in the first year, and my landlord wanted to know this about my guarantor too. They even wanted a letter from his employer to confirm his salary. I've even seen that they credit searched me at all three CRAs. (They used a third party company to do all the checks etc.)

I wouldn't worry too much about it - seems fairly standard when you rent something a little bit more expensive.

Out of interest, is it Premier HomeLet that the forms are headed as? On my form, NI number was under an optional section (mainly nosy questions) which I chose not to fill in.

FreheitOverture

I also had a guarantor in my first year, but all we needed was name, address and phone number.

Was a complete joke anyway with UNITE. They decided not to take the Direct Debit payment that was set up and sitting in my bank, then sent a threatening letter to my guarantor, without informing me first. Then when I went to manually put through the payment they tried to charge me an extra £25 for late payment. I basically told them where to go

lisa2905

Brucey many thanks. She has used forms supplied free online by LandlordZONE. In identification its says please supply NI number with drivers licence or passport plus photocopy showing clear photo !!! Were you the applicant or the guarantor. As my husband is the guarantor giving this info, perhaps could understand it on his sons application as the applicant. Did your guarantor have to give such detail.

Oldernotwiser

lisa2905 wrote: »

Were you the applicant or the guarantor. As my husband is the guarantor giving this info, perhaps could understand it on his sons application as the applicant. Did your guarantor have to give such detail.

As it's your husband who's ultimately liable for the payment of the rent and any damages, it seems sensible that they are more concerned about his ability to pay than they are with your stepson's.

BruceyBonus

lisa2905 wrote: »

Brucey many thanks. She has used forms supplied free online by LandlordZONE. In identification its says please supply NI number with drivers licence or passport plus photocopy showing clear photo !!! Were you the applicant or the guarantor. As my husband is the guarantor giving this info, perhaps could understand it on his sons application as the applicant. Did your guarantor have to give such detail.

I was the applicant. They required the same information for both guarantor and applicant. Although they never wanted to see any ID (or photocopies). They said they'd check my identity in two ways: credit reference agency and payment of deposit by debit card in my name.

lisa2905

precisely, thats my problem!!! but who am I just an interferring wicked stepmum but all thats another issue opening another can of worms!!

Stubert

I moved into a house in January. My parents are my guarantor.

They had to provide proof of employment status (a letter from their company) and salary details etc. As the agent has to do a credit check. Its fairly normal. I'm not too sure about providing the NI number, but they may be able to do some sort of credit check or something similar from that...

dichapman

I am guarantor for both my children, one just wants my name and address, the other wanted 2 proofs of residency eg bills, driving licence (1 from last 3 months)etc and a verbal or written statement that i am aware of my responsibilities.

Gingernutmeg

This all seems standard. My parents were guarantors for me when I was at uni and these were the sorts of things that were asked of them - welcome to the wonderfully intrusive world of private renting, where they can know 'everything' about you but you can't know 'anything' about them! Landlords can demand a great deal of information from prospective tenants and their guarantors and there's not a lot you can do about it, beyond trying somewhere else - not all agencies use the same credit-checking agencies, and some are MUCH less thorough.

But as ONW says, ultimately it's about making sure that the rent gets paid. NI numbers etc prove residency, employment details prove income (to a certain extent ...) and you can understand why this sort of info is demanded by LLs. The level of detail that you're describing certainly isn't uncommon.

Char_pdc

Hi

When asking my dad to fill in forms, he left off any details he wasn't comfortable filling. He said if they wanted to know if he could cover the rent, they could call his company and then confirm. I have not been turned away from any properties to date - is it possible to do something like this?

Sometimes they just want proof you earn over a certain amount - the actual salary value is unimportant.

I can understand why they ask all these questions but it is pretty invasive. We decided not to rent through a specific estate agent due to the level of information required. Hth