what happens if someone else's guarantor refuses to pay?

amazingAkita

This is not my situation, but a friend's. They are renting a place, as students, however one of them isn't coming back to university for various reasons and now won't pay rent for the rest of the lease, and apparently the guarantor won't pay either. Do they now have to pay? I was under the impression that was the point of guarantors, to stop them having to pay extra. Added bonus, the landlord isn't apparently very nice either. Any tips would be grateful!

ViolaLass

Best bet is to get someone to replace the original person and to pay the rent.

Slithery

Assuming this is an average student joint tenancy then the landlord can chase whoever they want for the rent, any of the tenants or any of the guarantors as they are all equally liable. The landlord will probably chase whoever they think they can get to pay up the quickest.

elsien

Slithery wrote: »

Assuming this is an average student joint tenancy then the landlord can chase whoever they want for the rent, any of the tenants or any of the guarantors as they are all equally liable. The landlord will probably chase whoever they think they can get to pay up the quickest.

Not necessarily. My niece has a tenancy in a shared student house where she/her guarantor can't be chased for anyone else's rent.

What does the agreement say?

G_M

Let's asume

1) this is Eng/Wales
2) it's a joint tenancy, with all the students named on a single contract
3) the contract is 'joint & several'
4) each student supplied a guarantor, guaranteeing to pay any debts (rent, damage etc) on the tenancy

So the landlord can claim the rent arrears by chasing

a) any one of the tenants named on the contract
b) any 2 or more of the named tenants
c) any one of the guarantors
d) any 2 or more of the guarantors
e) any combination of the aove.

G_M

elsien wrote: »

Not necessarily. My niece has a tenancy in a shared student house where she/her guarantor can't be chased for anyone else's rent.

What does the agreement say?

Slithery rightly said

Assuming this is an average student joint tenancy

If your niece had a sole tenancy (ie a room in an HMO) then that is completely different.
In my own post above, I too made 'asumptions' due to the limited information provided.