guarantor disater

margaret_ann_brooks

i recently met a man who moved into a rented flat , he needed a guarantor. i reluctantly signed that i would be his guarantor. The contract was never witnessed i just signed at home and gave to him .Unfortunately our relationship collapsed , i informed him that i no longer wanted to be his guarantor and that he had to find another one . He did not do that and handed in my document to the landlord . Now he wants to move out of the flat leaving me with his rent of 2600 pounds .
i informed the landlord what had happened but they say i am still liable .
does anyone know what action , if any i can take .
thank you

Pixie5740

margaret_ann_brooks wrote: »

i recently met a man who moved into a rented flat , he needed a guarantor. i reluctantly signed that i would be his guarantor. The contract was never witnessed i just signed at home and gave to him .Unfortunately our relationship collapsed , i informed him that i no longer wanted to be his guarantor and that he had to find another one . He did not do that and handed in my document to the landlord . Now he wants to move out of the flat leaving me with his rent of 2600 pounds .
i informed the landlord what had happened but they say i am still liable .
does anyone know what action , if any i can take .
thank you

You appear to know that the lack of a witnessed signature is significant and it is significant. If the guarantee is not executed as a deed, which means you being given a copy of the tenancy agreement before signing the guarantee and your signature being witnessed, then the guarantee the landlord has isn't worth the paper it's written on. You could politely point this out to the landlord. It will be an expensive lesson for him but hopefully in future he will know how to set up a guarantor properly in future.

For future reference if you agree to be a guarantor, and it's all set up correctly, you can't (legally speaking) then turn round and change your mind at a later date otherwise what would be the point in getting a guarantor?

Comms69

margaret_ann_brooks wrote: »

i recently met a man who moved into a rented flat , he needed a guarantor. i reluctantly signed that i would be his guarantor. The contract was never witnessed i just signed at home and gave to him .Unfortunately our relationship collapsed , i informed him that i no longer wanted to be his guarantor and that he had to find another one . He did not do that and handed in my document to the landlord . Now he wants to move out of the flat leaving me with his rent of 2600 pounds .
i informed the landlord what had happened but they say i am still liable .
does anyone know what action , if any i can take .
thank you

Thankfully you aren't going to be liable. As Pixie explained


But seriously, don't do this again.

AdrianC

margaret_ann_brooks wrote: »

i recently met a man who moved into a rented flat , he needed a guarantor. i reluctantly signed that i would be his guarantor. The contract was never witnessed i just signed at home and gave to him .Unfortunately our relationship collapsed , i informed him that i no longer wanted to be his guarantor and that he had to find another one . He did not do that and handed in my document to the landlord . Now he wants to move out of the flat leaving me with his rent of 2600 pounds .
i informed the landlord what had happened but they say i am still liable .
does anyone know what action , if any i can take .
thank you

Ultimately, the only way they can enforce that guarantee is to take you to court - it would come under Small Claim, so cheap and easy for them to do so, and cheap and easy for you to defend. BUT if you don't defend it, they win by default.

By guaranteeing, you are agreeing to cover any debt your "friend" leaves their landlord with for the entire tenancy - until they move out or the tenancy is replaced by a new one that either replaces you as guarantor or explicitly releases you from your guarantee. You cannot withdraw it unilaterally - that would make a mockery of the entire point of it.

Whether this particular guarantee is valid or not is another question entirely. If it isn't, you've been saved by pure luck. Your intent was there, whether you understood it or not.

lisyloo

You appear to know that the lack of a witnessed signature is significant and it is significant. If the guarantee is not executed as a deed, which means you being given a copy of the tenancy agreement before signing the guarantee and your signature being witnessed, then the guarantee the landlord has isn't worth the paper it's written on. You could politely point this out to the landlord.

How is this proven?
i.e. could they jsut add a witness signature afterwards?


If the documentation looks correct then who will the judge believe?

elsien

If you are for real, because what landlord accepts a guarantor for stupid amounts of rent without carrying out financial checks:
If you don't understand the implications of something then don't sign it until you understand exactly what you're agreeing to.
If you do understand it (and I think you probably did because yuh say you did so reluctantly) then don't expct to be able to wriggle out of a legally binding contract just because you've changed your mind.

AdrianC

lisyloo wrote: »

How is this proven?
i.e. could they jsut add a witness signature afterwards?

Absolutely.

And the OP then says "I've never heard of this person, and they definitely weren't there to witness my sig."

If the documentation looks correct then who will the judge believe?

It's all down to the rest of the evidence and testimony.

elsien wrote: »

If you are for real, because what landlord accepts a guarantor for stupid amounts of rent without carrying out financial checks:

We all know there's a lot of landlords who don't understand the basics of their business.

If you don't understand the implications of something then don't sign it until you understand exactly what you're agreeing to.
If you do understand it (and I think you probably did because yuh say you did so reluctantly) then don't expct to be able to wriggle out of a legally binding contract just because you've changed your mind.

The question is whether this contract IS legally binding or not. Only the court can decide for sure. If it isn't, then that's the OP's pure good luck.

sal_III

elsien wrote: »

If you are for real, because what landlord accepts a guarantor for stupid amounts of rent without carrying out financial checks:

It could be £2600 rent areas in total, not £2600pcm rent.
Besides you don't know whether the LL carried out financial checks or not.

lisyloo

It's all down to the rest of the evidence and testimony.

So even thought we know the OP isn't liable there is no guarantee he won't win in court?



I do know of people who claim to have been in the right but lost.
I personally would not be as confident as post #3 suggests.