Six months behind on Rent?

SpiritDrifter

Hi my son is a guarantor for one of the family. He has found out the rent is 6 months behind, the flat was let by an agent, but the payments are sent monthly direct by internet banking to the landlord at the end of each month.


The tenant hasn’t received any warnings and my son has heard nothing.
The overdue amount is over £3000 now and is of concern to my son, surly there is a limit on what amount of money or time before the Tenant or Guarantor is contacted.



Two payments were missed early last year without any warnings and four this year.


Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

go_cat

Has your son spoken to the tenant I.e the family member and found out what's going on?

Werdnal

Why is the tenant sitting back letting this situation continue?

It is possible the LL is lax on checking rent payments (may have lots of properties and just doesn't monitor his accounts well), and has not noticed yet - seems strange to many of us but have seen it reported here before.

Why is your son not chasing this relative to find out why they are defaulting on the rent. Whilst the LL here may be too disorganised to chase payments at the moment, the tenant is creating this situation and should be addressing it, not just waiting for a court claim or eviction notice!

BitterAndTwisted

Once you agree to act as guarantor there is no limit to your potential liability.

Why hasn't the tenant applied for Housing Benefit/LHA if they are earning too little/not earning at all?

ruggedtoast

SpiritDrifter wrote: »

Hi my son is a guarantor for one of the family. He has found out the rent is 6 months behind, the flat was let by an agent, but the payments are sent monthly direct by internet banking to the landlord at the end of each month.


The tenant hasn’t received any warnings and my son has heard nothing.
The overdue amount is over £3000 now and is of concern to my son, surly there is a limit on what amount of money or time before the Tenant or Guarantor is contacted.



Two payments were missed early last year without any warnings and four this year.


Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

First up he should check that what he signed actually binds him to pay the rent. I believe it has to say Deed of Trust in order to be valid.

Unfortunately agreeing to be a guarantor is a bind. Its not something I would do unless there was no alternative. If the agreement is valid then your son is liable for the rent, but there is technically no onus on the landlord to evict the tenant, so the amount he owes can keep spiralling indefinitely if neither the tenant nor the landlord ends the tenancy.

There is no limit on his liabilities other than that determined by the length of stay of the tenant.

He badly needs to find out what is going on with the tenant.

SpiritDrifter

Thanks for all reply's, The tenant has been approached by the guarantor, the wages of the tenant are excellent and he has just squandered the rent money and has now started to pay the rent again.
My son the Guarantor is making sure every month from now on will be paid plus a small amount to pay unpaid rent and checks his bank statements for proof of payments.
Looking into the signed agreement he is libel for as long as the tenant remains and not just for the first six months he thought he signed up for, which was for the minimum tenancy agreement.
The cooker is damaged and I guess that will come out of the down payment as no insurance was taken out by the tenant.
I will send this page to my son to read and between the family get this sorted out, The last thing he or I want is for it to get any larger. Its not what he expected to happen but it has. Once again thank you for the replies.

N1AK

SpiritDrifter wrote: »

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

As the tenant is now paying, and has means to pay, I suggest your son doesn't rock the boat too violently until the balance is re-paid. Once that has happened he should speak to a solicitor (with a copy of contract he is guarantor on) about options. He may be able to give notice about ending his guarantor-ship which would protect him from future liability.

grifferz

N1AK wrote: »

He may be able to give notice about ending his guarantor-ship which would protect him from future liability.

I was under the impression that the guarantor agreement was for the life of the tenancy (i.e. even after it's renewed or switched to periodic) and there was no way for a guarantor to get out of it.

Obviously a solicitor will know best but I would be interested to hear anyone's experiences of trying to get out of these.

(purely out of interest should I, my friends or family ever be approached to act as a guarantor)

BitterAndTwisted

SpiritDrifter wrote: »

My son the Guarantor is making sure every month from now on will be paid plus a small amount to pay unpaid rent and checks his bank statements for proof of payments.

A small amount each month against the THREE GRAND of arrears? How long do you think the landlord is willing to wait until the whole lot is cleared? In my book a "small amount" is taking the proverbial!

Your family member should anticipate being evicted pretty soon and the shortfall being sought from the guarantor.

Has any discussion taken place between the tenant and landlord about how long it's going to take to clear the arrrears?

BazzaDP

N1AK wrote: »

He may be able to give notice about ending his guarantor-ship which would protect him from future liability.

Well if I was the landlord then I would demand the outstanding rent from the guarantor at that point, and serve notice on the tenant. No way I'd allow someone who knowingly slips on the rent by £3000 to stay there without the guarantor!

G_M

Once the LL realises (I'm amazed he has notyet), he will come chasing the rent. Eitheroffthe tenant, and/or the guarantor.

He might also serve a S8 Notice to seek possession of the property.

So get the arrears paid back. How much 'extra' is being paid each month? Giventhe tenant has 'excellent wages', he should be able to clear the arrears fast.

And he should do this.

As an aside: you say rent goes direct tothe LL's account, but:

1) Is the landlord in this country?
2) Does the tenant have an address in Eng/Wales "for serving notice on the landlord'?

There are legal implications if the LL lives abroad, and I just find it strange a LL is not aware of £3000 arrears...