Rent Guarantor for Ex Wife

mr_megs

Hi,

Me and ex wife have split and our house is sold and completes in 2 weeks. The ex needs a guarantor to rent which I have agreed to do, but I will hold 8 months worth of rent from her equity share in my bank account as a sort of insurance to me. She has agreed to this and the 8 months worth of rent will come to me directly from the solicitors dealing with house sale. When I stop being her guarantor I will give the money back.

Should she stop paying the rent the LL will understandably come after me, my question is, can I then somehow force the LL to evict her and clear the debts once she has been evicted?

I don't want to pay the rent then her continue to live there, leaving me with an ever dwindling pot of insurance!

Pixie5740

mr_megs wrote: »

Hi,

Me and ex wife have split and our house is sold and completes in 2 weeks. The ex needs a guarantor to rent which I have agreed to do, but I will hold 8 months worth of rent from her equity share in my bank account as a sort of insurance to me. She has agreed to this and the 8 months worth of rent will come to me directly from the solicitors dealing with house sale. When I stop being her guarantor I will give the money back.

Should she stop paying the rent the LL will understandably come after me, my question is, can I then somehow force the LL to evict her and clear the debts once she has been evicted?

I don't want to pay the rent then her continue to live there, leaving me with an ever dwindling pot of insurance!

You won't have any legal right to force the landlord to evict your ex wife. In fact as long as the rent is being paid and there's a guarantee it will get paid the landlord may not have much incentive to evict her. You'd need to negotiate something with the landlord such as withholding the money until there is a possession order in place.

Comms69

mr_megs wrote: »

Hi,

Me and ex wife have split and our house is sold and completes in 2 weeks. The ex needs a guarantor to rent which I have agreed to do, but I will hold 8 months worth of rent from her equity share in my bank account as a sort of insurance to me. She has agreed to this and the 8 months worth of rent will come to me directly from the solicitors dealing with house sale. When I stop being her guarantor I will give the money back.

Should she stop paying the rent the LL will understandably come after me, my question is, can I then somehow force the LL to evict her and clear the debts once she has been evicted?

I don't want to pay the rent then her continue to live there, leaving me with an ever dwindling pot of insurance!

Nope. Literally you are on the hook for rent from now until she dies.

Chrysalis

Guarantor agreements are typically only for the length of the tenancy agreement, and unless you in social housing you unlikely to have a tenancy agreement for life, I would be surprised if its over more than a year.

Also I dont think a LL would be happy with that arrangement and so if it does fall back on you I expect your liability will end when the tenancy ends and she wont get a renewal.

Comms69

Chrysalis wrote: »

Guarantor agreements are typically only for the length of the tenancy agreement, and unless you in social housing you unlikely to have a tenancy agreement for life, I would be surprised if its over more than a year. - No, it's for the duration of the tenancy...

Also I dont think a LL would be happy with that arrangement and so if it does fall back on you I expect your liability will end when the tenancy ends and she wont get a renewal.

You're mistaken. She remains a tenant until she is evicted or leaves voluntarily

Pixie5740

Chrysalis wrote: »

Guarantor agreements are typically only for the length of the tenancy agreement, and unless you in social housing you unlikely to have a tenancy agreement for life, I would be surprised if its over more than a year.

Also I dont think a LL would be happy with that arrangement and so if it does fall back on you I expect your liability will end when the tenancy ends and she wont get a renewal.

When does the tenancy end? Why would the ex-wife need a renewal?

TBagpuss

No.
So either you need to have a larger retention, or have a very carefully drafted guarantee which is limited either as to the time it lasts or as to the maximum amount covered (which may result in the landlord refusing to rent, but might be possible to negotiate, e.g. if the cap was 8 x monthly rent, then it ought to give them time to evict if she goes into arrears, and be able to claim back the back rent and costs of eviction)

Has your wife looked into whether the landlord will accept 6 / 12 months rent up front in lieu of a guarantor?

The only way round it I can think of would be if your wife gave a formal undertaking that she would give notice and vacate the rented property if, during any period you were the guarantor, she was unable to pay the rent in full and on time in any 2 consecutive months and that she would undertake to obtain your release from the guarantee within 12 months and give notice to end the tenancy if unable to do so.

Undertakings are legally binding promises made to a court, and breaking them puts you in contempt of court, so it would be possible for you to put pressure on her if she was in arrears but not addressing it didn't get things sorted out, r if she was at a point where she could get a new tenancy without you but was not doing it.
If someone breaks an undertaking, the court has a range of options as to how to deal with the contempt, including sending someone to prison,so while they could not necessarily make her give notice, they could potentially make life quite uncomfortable for her if she refused.

Presumably the intention is that she will be able to get a tenancy without a guarantor in 6-12 months, once she has an independent credit credit and history of paying rent?

Comms69

TBagpuss wrote: »

No.
So either you need to have a larger retention, or have a very carefully drafted guarantee which is limited either as to the time it lasts or as to the maximum amount covered (which may result in the landlord refusing to rent, but might be possible to negotiate, e.g. if the cap was 8 x monthly rent, then it ought to give them time to evict if she goes into arrears, and be able to claim back the back rent and costs of eviction)

Has your wife looked into whether the landlord will accept 6 / 12 months rent up front in lieu of a guarantor?

The only way round it I can think of would be if your wife gave a formal undertaking that she would give notice and vacate the rented property if, during any period you were the guarantor, she was unable to pay the rent in full and on time in any 2 consecutive months and that she would undertake to obtain your release from the guarantee within 12 months and give notice to end the tenancy if unable to do so.

Undertakings are legally binding promises made to a court, and breaking them puts you in contempt of court, so it would be possible for you to put pressure on her if she was in arrears but not addressing it didn't get things sorted out, r if she was at a point where she could get a new tenancy without you but was not doing it.
If someone breaks an undertaking, the court has a range of options as to how to deal with the contempt, including sending someone to prison,so while they could not necessarily make her give notice, they could potentially make life quite uncomfortable for her if she refused.

Presumably the intention is that she will be able to get a tenancy without a guarantor in 6-12 months, once she has an independent credit credit and history of paying rent?

If the OP is willing to take his wife to court then the undertakings are largely meaningless. He can just sue her for the rent money...


Whilst prison is possible; it's not going to happen and would serve not benefit to anyone.

pelirocco

Will the landlord accept x months rent paid up front in lieu of a guarentee?

mr_megs

Thanks for the replies so far. Landlord (their agent in reality) is saying that they won't hold more than 2 months rent as a deposit, they also won't accept 6 months rent up front as in reality after 6 months then the Landlord is at the same risk level as not having a guarantor, so they won't accept without a guarantor!

I understand there is no legal way for me to force her eviction, I suppose my question is how likely is it that the LL will start eviction proceedings as soon as say 2 months rent arrears happens? Would they start proceedings and then come after me separately or would they first let the arrears build up whilst taking me to court and not issue eviction proceedings? Would be interested to see how other LL's have dealt with arrears with a guarantor in place.

Just to add, it is a AST, I will be liable as a guarantor until she moves out, secures a new guarantor or either of us die.

theartfullodger

Blimey, got shot of your spouse and yet still suffering! B*mm*r!.

See info on guarantees and if they are enforceable (not all are...)
http://england.shelter.org.uk/legal/housing_options/paying_for_accommodation/guarantors
&
https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/forum/residential-letting-questions/73441-tenancy-guarantees