Guaranteeing a student tenancy agreement

slopemaster

Cosimo1964 wrote: »

My son is one of a group of six students who have taken out an Assured Short-hold Tenancy Agreement on a house for next year.

it may just be the way you've worded it, but at the risk of stating the obvious, then if they've already taken the tenancy, you don't have to be a guarantor in exchange for them being granted the tenancy

dimbo61

Student landlords should and will have buildings insurance and may have contents for the items they supply, beds, wardrobes etc.
what they cannot insure against is criminal damage done by the tenants, setting the kitchen on fire due to melting candle wax in the oven, smoking in bed after disconnecting the smoke alarms etc
Good landlords renting good quality student properties would want the back up of guarantors.

G_M

dimbo61 wrote: »

Student landlords should and will have buildings insurance and may have contents for the items they supply, beds, wardrobes etc.
what they cannot insure against is criminal damage done by the tenants, setting the kitchen on fire due to melting candle wax in the oven, smoking in bed after disconnecting the smoke alarms etc
Good landlords renting good quality student properties would want the back up of guarantors.

Would probobly be covered on a good LL's policy under either

* accidental damage or
* malicious damage by tenant

But next year's premiums would go up, + there'd be an excess to pay, so far better to chase the tenant/guarantor than to claim, if possible

davidmcn

Cosimo1964 wrote: »

Presumably the landlord will have some kind of insurance in case someone leaves a tap on or blocks a drain?

Even if they do have insurance, they may also have a hefty excess, or their insurers may want to recover their loss from you, or they may simply prefer to recover the money from you rather than make a claim.

It's understandable you may wish to bail out your son even if he does something daft - do you want to do the same for his five mates?

Cosimo1964

slopemaster wrote: »

it may just be the way you've worded it, but at the risk of stating the obvious, then if they've already taken the tenancy, you don't have to be a guarantor in exchange for them being granted the tenancy

He has signed a tenancy agreement but it is subject to a guarantee

silvercar

Cosimo1964 wrote: »

Silvercar it isn't particularly helpful to state the obvious. I will be contributing to the rent anyway.


The point of my original post was:


1 - to establish if these kind of guarantees were normal, and


2 - to try and get an idea of how far my personal liability might extend.


In summary, it sounds like these are standard for student houses and providing they are all good little children the rent won't be a problem. Does anyone know how far the other liabilities extend? Presumably the landlord will have some kind of insurance in case someone leaves a tap on or blocks a drain?

It is normal. I have had to do it for both mine throughout their time at uni. You have to trust them to choose decent friends and that they all will behave responsibly.

The thing that I found most risky was when one of mine's group of housing sharing friends included 2 students from overseas, one provided an overseas guarantor and one paid a large deposit and rent up front. So the latter one had no-one guaranteeing anything and the overseas guarantor would hardly have been likely to be the first person chased (should the landlord have looked to guarantors for liability).

Lily-Rose_3

davidmcn wrote: »

Even if they do have insurance, they may also have a hefty excess, or their insurers may want to recover their loss from you, or they may simply prefer to recover the money from you rather than make a claim.

It's understandable you may wish to bail out your son even if he does something daft - do you want to do the same for his five mates?

I am with this. I would never be a guarantor, as God knows what kind of things you will be asked to pay for. It could be a rather ambiguous liability and you could be chased for multiple thousands.

It's all very well saying they are 'all good kids.' At the end of the day, you can't trust ANYONE! And even if they DO all 'behave,' who's to say the LL won't 'find' something that he needs replacing or fixing, and claim against you anyway?

If it were a case of only charging you rent that would be one thing, but it never is it it?

Cosimo1964

But the problem - as others have pointed out - is that if I don't provide a guarantee he won't have a house next year.

silvercar

Cosimo1964 wrote: »

But the problem - as others have pointed out - is that if I don't provide a guarantee he won't have a house next year.

Which was my point here:

If you don't trust your son to pay the rent, why would you expect anyone else to do so?

The only other options are for him to remain in Halls or to wait til September and hope there is some desperate landlord with an unlet student property, prepared to let without a guarantor. This will restrict his choice as the better properties will have gone.

MobileSaver

jaylee3 wrote: »

In many cases, people don't have much of a relationship with mum and dad - and cannot ask them. And in many other cases, the mum and dad simply can't do it. What then???

Students can stay in halls of residence like many of us had to. What is it with the sense of entitlement the current generation has?

jaylee3 wrote: »

If it was outlawed to coerce parents to be guarantor, then the landlords would have to take them on with no guarantor except for the students themselves.

Landlords are running a business, like any business if the risks are too great then landlords won't rent to those people or will increase their charges to cover those increased risks. Be careful what you wish for...