I need to get out of my guarantor contract.

anselld

roger196 wrote: »

A few thoughts......
1 Is the guarantee a consumer contract?

It is not. In fact it isnt even a contract, it is a deed. That is why it needs to be witnessed. It cant be a contract because there is no 'consideration'.

RAS

silkyuk9 wrote: »

Its a famliy issue where the ex is not a family member. However they (son and ex) were stuck for £1000 for the bond required so I gave them the money for a bond but the money would return to me after they left at some point.

If the tenancy is in the ex's name and the deposit is registered, as required by law, then it will be in her name. And will be returned to her at the end of the tenancy.

Unless you have something in writing in which they both signed to confirm that the bond would be returned to you, you could have trouble getting this back.

Prothet_of_Doom

silkyuk9 wrote: »

They wont accept any period of notice. Basically the letting agent does not give a crap

There is a piece of legislatiuon in force which prohibits unfair contracts.

The letting agent should be reminded of that, because if the contract does NOT allow you to no longer be a guarantor, with sufficient notice from you, then the contract is clearly unfair and a judge in a small claims court would most likely rip it up.

I'm not in any way legally trained, but it seems to me by being a guarantor you are effectively "the tennant". If you no longer want to be the tennant then you give notice.

If you were a tennant, you can give notice, so as you are basically acting for the tennant, you can also give notice. This means that the tennant will have that notice period to find a new guarantor or will have to leave.

Prothet_of_Doom

anselld wrote: »

It is not. In fact it isnt even a contract, it is a deed. That is why it needs to be witnessed. It cant be a contract because there is no 'consideration'.

Strange then that both times my Student son has had me be a guarantor, there was no witnessing, of my signing. In fact on one, I was sent an email, clicked a hot link to a website, which brought up the details of the contract, and clicked a link to say I agreed to be a Guarantor. I pointed out to my son, that should he default, I would claim my email account had been hacked without my knowledge.
On the other I took a photo of page 4 of what was clearly a contract, with my signature on, and emailed it back. TBH the signature was not my normal one, and there were no witnesses. :rotfl:

silkyuk9

RAS wrote: »

If the tenancy is in the ex's name and the deposit is registered, as required by law, then it will be in her name. And will be returned to her at the end of the tenancy.

Unless you have something in writing in which they both signed to confirm that the bond would be returned to you, you could have trouble getting this back.

Yes i understand that but £1000 which is initially gone is not a worry as unpaid rent for several months and the LL does not try to evict but take me to the cleaners.

silkyuk9

Let me just get this clear, at the present time the tenant is up to date with rent. This is not the issue, my issue is I want out of a contract that at some point I feel will not be honored by the tenant by paying rent each month. I feel uneasy that at some point she will not pay rent save the money and move but leave me with a bill, and possibly trash the damn house too.

RAS

You need to take the contract to a lawyer who can advise if it is legally valid or void.

It also looks like you need to tell th exGF that you want to end your responsibility and she needs to find a new guarantor?

silkyuk9

RAS wrote: »

You need to take the contract to a lawyer who can advise if it is legally valid or void.

It also looks like you need to tell th exGF that you want to end your responsibility and she needs to find a new guarantor?

If it was as simple as that i would never have started the thread, that was my first port of call asking her. What do you think she said??

lazer

silkyuk9 wrote: »

A quick recap.

ex gf took out a tenancy agreement with letting agent. She did not have guarantor. I offered to be guarantor (through circumstances) deed of guarantee was emailed to me to sign, I emailed it back to letting agent when I signed, contract was then posted to me countersigned by a witness to me signing (obviously this did not happen I was not present) ex-gf moved in with my son who was not on tenancy contract, so he had to go to letting agent to sign later, so the tenancy agreement was amended but not the deed of guarantee.

ex and son have split, son moved out ex still in house.

Letting agent will not let me out of contract.

Here is the last reply from letting agent, when I asked for contract of son and ex's contract.

Mr XXXX (son) was never put onto the tenancy agreement, he just signed an addendum, to say
he was a permitted occupier at the property.

You therefore continue as guarantor for xxxx (ex-gf), for as long as she stays at the property

I think the bit in bold is your get out clause if I understand it directly

The only signature of yours they have is a scanned copy in e-mail.
Do you still have the e-mail and can prove this is how you signed the contract

In this case the countersigned by a witness is not valid as it cannot physically have been done at the same time

Do he landlord or letting agent have the original that you signed or just a scan?

silkyuk9

lazer wrote: »

I think the bit in bold is your get out clause if I understand it directly

The only signature of yours they have is a scanned copy in e-mail.
Do you still have the e-mail and can prove this is how you signed the contract

In this case the countersigned by a witness is not valid as it cannot physically have been done at the same time

Do he landlord or letting agent have the original that you signed or just a scan?

I do not have the original email no this was back in August 2012. But you are correct, I had to print out the contract and sign it then scan it and send it to letting agent again via email.

The contract I have has my signiture on it but this is a scanned copy. The only other signiture is the witness which could be a genuine sign or photocopy to, its hard to tell to be honest as there does not seem to be a 'pressing' imprint on the reverse side, so im guessing they have the original copy which again will be my signiture but a scanned one, and their real signiture.