How to get out of being a guarantor?

G_M

My approach would be to do this face-to-face. Start with your sister (if you're still speaking) and see how she reacts, how understanding /cooperative she is.

Always better to fall out with a LA than family! However if she insists on sataying and effectively says 'Skr*w you", the go speak to the agent.

Explain the situation and see what THEY say.

Good luck

muskoka

I'd think twice about the way you handle this in respect of your sister. I would mollycodle her, indulge her, sympathise with her, find somewhere else for her to go, hold her hand - ELIMINATE your liability by sorting her problems out. Go with her, etc. Encourage her to make a new start & then you can offload your responsibilities. I would NOT go in with all guns blazing. You may get her back up, and it could all backfire on you. Be the big sister, just for a bit longer.

I have a brother like this - love him to death, but I'm very, very wary of what is said/done where he is concerned. He knows how to play the system & his family.

DVardysShadow

tek-monkey wrote: »

... Had a think last night (wasn't exactly sleeping!), gonna call my sister after work and explain that if she misses this payment I shall push the LA to evict her. Everything I have read up on seems to say that as long as she stays there I am liable, and I have no way of removing her from the property myself. Seems that if you act as gaurantor and fall out with that person, you are screwed

I suggest you go one step down on pressing the LA. You have done the right thing by your sister, but now you need to look after yourself.

Serve notice on the LL [LA], exactly in line with the timing for the end of the tenancy, that you will no longer act as guarantor after expiry of the fixed term. Serve o copy on your sister too, keep copies [I know you would].

Keep funds in hand to meet the liability you have signed up to. Ultimately, I don't think a court would hold you to a guarantee for much more than the fixed term plus the time for the LL to give notice - you could rightly argue that the LL and the LA have a duty to mitigate their losses and cannot neglect to evict you sister at your expense after you have sent a notice like this.

tek-monkey

muskoka wrote: »

I'd think twice about the way you handle this in respect of your sister. I would mollycodle her, indulge her, sympathise with her, find somewhere else for her to go, hold her hand - ELIMINATE your liability by sorting her problems out. Go with her, etc. Encourage her to make a new start & then you can offload your responsibilities. I would NOT go in with all guns blazing. You may get her back up, and it could all backfire on you. Be the big sister, just for a bit longer.

I have a brother like this - love him to death, but I'm very, very wary of what is said/done where he is concerned. He knows how to play the system & his family.

My sister is actually 4 years older than me, which is why I suppose I'm getting annoyed. She should sort out my problems! I'm very independant though, I don't like help. I am unfortunately a mug when it comes to my family though, can't say no. My younger brother actually lives with me, and lost his job a few months ago, so I'm subbing him slightly too. Only £50/month towards his share of the rent, but it all adds up.

DVardysShadow wrote: »

I suggest you go one step down on pressing the LA. You have done the right thing by your sister, but now you need to look after yourself.

Serve notice on the LL [LA], exactly in line with the timing for the end of the tenancy, that you will no longer act as guarantor after expiry of the fixed term. Serve o copy on your sister too, keep copies [I know you would].

Keep funds in hand to meet the liability you have signed up to. Ultimately, I don't think a court would hold you to a guarantee for much more than the fixed term plus the time for the LL to give notice - you could rightly argue that the LL and the LA have a duty to mitigate their losses and cannot neglect to evict you sister at your expense after you have sent a notice like this.

Thanks a lot for that. Can't believe how stupid I've been trying to help her, but I was assured the rent was covered by her HB so there was no risk. At no point when I signed up for this did she mention going back into education. I sure as hell couldn't afford a place when I was a student!

moromir

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Serve notice on the LL [LA], exactly in line with the timing for the end of the tenancy, that you will no longer act as guarantor after expiry of the fixed term. Serve o copy on your sister too, keep copies [I know you would].

I would respectfully suggest you take further professional advice before trying to head down this road, you NEED to check the wording of your Guarantor Agreement. The Guarantor agreements my parents have signed for me in the past have referred to continued guarantor(ship) (is that a word?) for 'subsequent agreements or tenancies' and the only way to terminate it was to rereference me after a change of circumstances to prove I could meet the referencing agent's affordability scale and even then it was down to the LL whether he wanted to release my parents or not.

Fire_Fox

Is there any possibility your sister could still pay part of the rent this month and you pay the remainder (as a loan)? Also I notice you only mention a student loan - won't she be getting a grant too, including extra money for her dependents? Doesn't she get maintenance from the childrens' father(s)? Has she applied for a student bank account with 0% overdraft or do you think her credit rating is too poor?

DVardysShadow

moromir wrote: »

I would respectfully suggest you take further professional advice before trying to head down this road, you NEED to check the wording of your Guarantor Agreement. The Guarantor agreements my parents have signed for me in the past have referred to continued guarantor(ship) (is that a word?) for 'subsequent agreements or tenancies' and the only way to terminate it was to rereference me after a change of circumstances to prove I could meet the referencing agent's affordability scale and even then it was down to the LL whether he wanted to release my parents or not.

Ultimately, you would saying that the Guarantor commitment is open ended whereas the tenancy is terminable by either LL or tenant. This is of course inequitable - it is a hard argument to make, but I believe ultimately a guarantor agreement cannot be open ended and it is reasonable to go down the route of giving notice. The reason that your guarantor agreements refer to subsequent tenancies is really to cover your tenancy going periodic or being renewed and not letting your guarantor off the hook by default.

Once the guarantor has given notice, it would, I think, be for the LL to decide whether to accept the tenancy with no guarantor or themselves to give tenant notice on terms provided by the tenancy agreement. I cannot see that there is no way for a guarantor to terminate their involvement. Ultimately, a guarantor giving notice must have as much standing as a tenant giving notice.

tek-monkey

Right, I may be getting my wires crossed, it may be a grant. I thought they stopped grants years ago? Even so, apparently its delayed. I have not been able to talk to her yet, she only indirectly mentioned it to my GF which is what really got my back up - the rent date is the 5th and the longer she decided to not tell me the less chance I'd have to do something.

The 3 kids have 2 fathers, the father of the eldest 2 pays £200/month to her. The father of the toddler doesn't seem to contribute. Her credit rating is awful, when she split with her husband she kept the house, yet lost it again a few years later. Pretty sure she remortgaged it at least once.

I have the guarantor agreement here, will type it in when I get a sec.

Fire_Fox

tek-monkey wrote: »

Right, I may be getting my wires crossed, it may be a grant. I thought they stopped grants years ago? Even so, apparently its delayed. I have not been able to talk to her yet, she only indirectly mentioned it to my GF which is what really got my back up - the rent date is the 5th and the longer she decided to not tell me the less chance I'd have to do something.

The 3 kids have 2 fathers, the father of the eldest 2 pays £200/month to her. The father of the toddler doesn't seem to contribute. Her credit rating is awful, when she split with her husband she kept the house, yet lost it again a few years later. Pretty sure she remortgaged it at least once.

I have the guarantor agreement here, will type it in when I get a sec.

She should be getting grants AND loans, the total amount for a single person is not dissimilar to a minimum wage job, when you take into account zero liability for council tax. Parents get more depending on the income of the partner, which your sister doesn't have and number of dependents. See here, there's a ton of money to be had:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@educ/documents/digitalasset/dg_174795.pdf

chappers

Really the first port of call needs to be a discussion with the LL, it is your sister who has a contract with the LL ,your part of the contract only comes into force should your sister break that contract.
You say that the rent has so far been paid up to date, I would first be assertaining that your sister is actually going to have this money coming to her and if this is correct, then she should be speaking to the LL and explaining the situaion.
He cannot start eviction proceedings until there are two months arrears and I doubt he would start chasing you either.

With regards to getting out of being her guarantor, you need to sit down with her and explain to her that this situation has made you realise that you are not happy with the financial exposure put upon you and that she needs to terminate the contract so as to absolve you of your exposure.
Now that she is no longer on HB perhaps the LL will let her sign up again in her own right.
If she will or is recieving any help with her rent perhaps she could get the LL to tell the council she is in arrears and get the money paid direct to him, this worked for a friend of mine.

A tricky one I know but sometimes family are the worst people to deal with and sometimes you have to be tough, it seems you have been acting as more than a guarantor and been managing her finances for her.