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being a guarentor for a student's rent

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Our son is just arranging his student accomodation for next year, and I have been asked to be his guarentor. It is a joint tenancy with 5 others so this means I am acting as guarentor for the whole household (along with 5 other parents presumably). I am uncomfortalbe about taking on this level of commitment. they have said that an alternative is to pay all the rent up front - which we could do. what are the pros and cons, and what are the downsides of paying so much up front?

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  • Voyager2002
    Voyager2002 Posts: 16,251 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Why not read the guarantor agreement and negotiate over any terms that you find unacceptable? After all, the landlord needs tenants.
  • silvercar
    silvercar Posts: 49,528 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Academoney Grad Name Dropper
    Downside of paying all upfront is that the landlord is very relaxed about dealing with any issues in the property.
    I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.
  • Your son could also pay a fee and use an independent housing guarantor such as housinghand.
    Sealed Pot Challenge #601
  • Warning - if you are a guarantor you are probably guaranteeing all liability for all the tenants - not just the rent, but for damage and any other claims by the landlord.
    A kind word lasts a minute, a skelped erse is sair for a day.
  • flashg67
    flashg67 Posts: 4,126 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    My 2 are at uni and I've acted as guarantor for both over the last 2 years. Both sets of terms (different agents) specifically said I was only guaranteeing 'my' share of the rent. It seems unreasonable (and unlikely from my experience) that one parent would be asked to guarantee the full rent for 5+ students, but worth checking the wording, certainly.
  • dimbo61
    dimbo61 Posts: 13,727 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    There are 2 really big Landlord associations in the UK.
    The RLA and the NLA.
    They both have a standard Guarantor form some 3/4 pages long.
    The RLA form states that as a guarantor you are liable for the rent of your student son/daughter.
    The Landlord is handing the keys to a £250/350,000 property with at best £3,000 deposit.
    Many lenders require borrowers to have guarantors when renting to students.
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