Paying deposit and rental for student by CC

orangefusion

Is there any advantage in paying the deposit and 6 months rent that I am having to front for my son to move into his first London student digs by credit card rather than cash? Would it give me any more clout when trying to retrieve the deposit or leverage the landlord to carry out repairs etc?

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

orangefusion wrote: »

Is there any advantage in paying the deposit and 6 months rent that I am having to front for my son to move into his first London student digs by credit card rather than cash? Would it give me any more clout when trying to retrieve the deposit or leverage the landlord to carry out repairs etc?

The first question to ask: "Does the landlord accept credit cards?"

bengal-stripe

The contract would be between your son and the landlord. Even if there was a dispute between the parties, your CC would stay well and clearly out of it.

orangefusion

Good question, I have asked and not had a reply yet. If they do, am I best using it to pay the deposit (and rent)?

The landlord seems to provide half answers to our questions. It all seems a bit slippery but the kids are worried that all our parental worry questions will lose them the place. The landlord wants 6 months rent or a guarantor. Guarantor has to provide bank statements and payslips for 3 months! I am not giving them that information- how dare they! They can credit check me but they are not having the details of what I spend my money on. I would rather pay the 6 months up front, its money I would be giving my son anyway.

orangefusion

The contract would be between your son and the landlord. Even if there was a dispute between the parties, your CC would stay well and clearly out of it.

So in that case there is no advantage?

CLAPTON

orangefusion wrote: »

Good question, I have asked and not had a reply yet. If they do, am I best using it to pay the deposit (and rent)?

The landlord seems to provide half answers to our questions. It all seems a bit slippery but the kids are worried that all our parental worry questions will lose them the place. The landlord wants 6 months rent or a guarantor. Guarantor has to provide bank statements and payslips for 3 months! I am not giving them that information- how dare they! They can credit check me but they are not having the details of what I spend my money on. I would rather pay the 6 months up front, its money I would be giving my son anyway.

it's entirely your decision whether to be a guarantor for your child, however it is quite normal for student to have guarantors.


Although sector 75 does apply if you use a credit card, I'm not sure that it will be much practical value if there is a dispute with the landlord

bouncydog1

When acting as guarantor for my daughter, I provided the landlords with a letter from my employer confirming I was employed.

However as mentioned, the landlord will unlikely accept a credit card and there would be no protection anyway as the contracting parties will be your son and the landlord.

You would be far better posting on the renting boards for help with this as student lets are well aired on there.

I hope that your son has had the contract checked via the University to ensure that it is acceptable. Quite a few of the contracts contain unfair terms but of course the students are quite keen to sign up so don't bother to read and understand them until there is a problem!

SuperHan

It's relatively standard to ask for bank statements for a guarantor, otherwise there's not really much evidence you can afford to meet the rent if necessary (it's not done by all estate agents/landlords, but I know a lot do, especially for students).

You can redact the bank statements just to leave the values, not showing where the money was spent and that should suffice.

You're not likely to be able to pay on credit card, and it's unlikely it will offer you any benefit anyway.

orangefusion

I am going to pay the 6 months rent. The landlord has not been entirely clear about the liability for the guarantor and I feel safer paying the rent. It was only the protection offered by credit card payments that made me wonder about using a cc but as the tenant is my son not me, it makes little difference. Thanks all for the replies. Its going to be an expensive month

bargainbetty

Make sure you get the details of the Landlord Deposit scheme within the required time, and have a full inventory done (and checked upon arrival).

History is littered with deductions made for things that were broken to start with but no one thought to mention it at the time.