University student - guarantor being asked to pay other students rent debts

theartfullodger

I agree Mark:

But sadly...
a) Many cough up before it gets to court through a fear/unwillingness to "end up in court"
b) Too many don't bother to turn up to court or send in a defence & judgement is too often awarded against them ..

I am aware of cases where judgement has been awarded against tenants or guarantors where no "deed" was enacted..: It happens!

CaB here
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-a-home/student-housing/students-in-private-rented-accommodation/student-housing-using-a-guarantor/
- also make the point that

It may be possible to argue that an open-ended guarantor agreement is not enforceable, but a court would have to decide this.

The RLA provide a "Deed": The NLA only a "letter of guarantee" (!) And see PIMs advice here..
http://www.pims.co.uk/guarantors/

Best regards to all

Lord_Baltimore

I think that we've established that the OP is in a difficult situation legally.

At this juncture therefore OP, don't get mad, get even. By this I mean it is probably time to be a bit more creative about the action that might be taken to persuade those who owe a debt to pay their share.

With a little lateral thinking, I know where I would start...

DaftyDuck

I used to rent to students (now only graduate students) and never asked for a guarantor. Reasons? Breakdown in trust at initial stage ain't exactly a good start. Better selection of tenant, choosing people who wouldn't dream of not paying, unless circumstances were intolerably difficult, further difficulty in ever chasing a guarantor, and general dislike of big stick threat tactics.

It may also have helped that I was likely to be their end-of-year examiner ..... or future job-reference writer.....

But, it is common to require a guarantor. I know quite a few university members who don't, but the majority of rentals obviously come from the more commercial sector. They all seem to require it.

pleasedelete

Too late now for the OP but we all had the guarantor form changed to clearly state that as guarantors we were liable only for our own child's debt and capped at the limit of the total annual rent.

So in my my case for XX to a limit of £3500 etc

I understand that whilst not totally legally robust it established that our intention was not taking on liability for the entire annual rental for the house when we signed as guarantors.

Our original guarantor form was possibly misleading- it said that we would have to take on liability for our daughters liability-fair enough. What wasn't clearly stated was that they were on a joint liability tenancy- so my daughter and the others are liable if 1 doesn't pay and her liability is then the entire rental.

Lord_Baltimore

CobaltBlue wrote: »

How common is it for students to need guarantors these days?

What happens if a student doesn't have anyone willing or able to act as a guarantor?

There are lots of people on this forum who regularly advise people to "never be a guarantor"

In addition to Dafty's comments, where a guarantor is not available particularly when overseas tenants are concerned, a practice is to insist on rent 3 months in advance. Patterns of non-payment of rent can be identified with this "buffer" in place.