Paying rent during this time

HelenBlair

My daughter works in hospitality and she’s lost her job, she can’t pay her rent but my husband is her guarantor, so the letting agents say he must pay. Only he’s on SPA now as he’s taken time off work to look after our son and baby twins. I’m a sign writer for the pub trade. I’m self employed and I’ve just lost 99% of my work indefinitely! We have managed to get a mortgage holiday and have cut all our bills as much as we can but the letting agents have said that unless we pay her rent then they will take him to court, avoiding the whole “can’t be evicted for 3 months” like the government has just proposed! 

We have asked them to 1/2 the rent and review it in 3 months but even that’s going to be a stretch for us. 

Any advice is welcome!!! Please 

Retireby40

Did she have a full time contract in hospitality. Is her pub/restaurant closing down and going out of business? Or have they just reduced her hours indefinitely.

If she has been let go permanently surely she is entitled to job seekers allowance as it is no fault of her own. Has this avenue been involved. There are crisis loans and all sorts of help during this time as many people have been basically let go indefinitely and had contracts terminated.

Robbo66

Your daughter can apply for housing benefit then she/your husband would only be liable for any shortfall

D_M_E

Iam not an expert but the first thing I would question is how was the guarrantor set up?

Was it simply agreed with the agent or was it witnessed as a deed?

I believe that such a guarrantee has to be signed and witnessed to be valid and if it was not then there's nothing the agent can do.

As I said, this is only what I understand but I could be wrong so you need to check.

Have you and/or your daughter checked for any entitlement on Turnto us for example?

JayRitchie

Wasn't the government introducing a no evictions policy? Perhaps check this and mention to the EA and landlord. Also consider naming and shaming both.

gary83

JayRitchie said:

Wasn't the government introducing a no evictions policy? Perhaps check this and mention to the EA and landlord. Also consider naming and shaming both.

The governments policy hasn’t really been detailed yet, it’s still early days, perhaps they didn’t realise how hand to mouth some people were living.

I’m not sure naming and shaming would help at this point. Assuming the landlord isn’t a large faceless company that would garner no sympathy in the local papers but merely someone else also having to deal with tight finances at the moment, that could be why your offer of half rent for three months followed by a review was also not accepted.

AdrianC

They aren't evicting... They're simply saying "The guarantor should pay the rent, under the terms of the guarantee".

[Deleted User]

Robbo66 said:

Your daughter can apply for housing benefit then she/your husband would only be liable for any shortfall

People can apply for Universal Credit.  But generally speaking it's not possible to apply for Housing Benefit any more.

UC has a lot more strings attached to it - i.e. you have to be looking for work.

Bossypants

Your daughter definitely needs to apply for whatever benefits she's entitled to, now is not the time to be proud. Also keep an eye out for announcements of new measures to support people in her position (the Chancellor is supposedly outlining a new plan later today).

Can't help you with the ruthless agent I'm afraid, some people just have no sense of compassion (or realism, frankly).

Robbo66

Poster_586329 said:

Robbo66 said:

Your daughter can apply for housing benefit then she/your husband would only be liable for any shortfall

People can apply for Universal Credit.  But generally speaking it's not possible to apply for Housing Benefit any more.

UC has a lot more strings attached to it - i.e. you have to be looking for work.

But as the OPs daughter has lost her job she may well qualify

gary83

Bossypants said:

Your daughter definitely needs to apply for whatever benefits she's entitled to, now is not the time to be proud. Also keep an eye out for announcements of new measures to support people in her position (the Chancellor is supposedly outlining a new plan later today).

Can't help you with the ruthless agent I'm afraid, some people just have no sense of compassion (or realism, frankly).

I think the realism is that the agent works for the LL, not the tenants, their only job is to find a suitable tennant, then manage the running of the property, ensuring that the rent turns up in time and any problems are reported/dealt with, the harsh reality is they’re not social workers. a lot of landlords will be people having one property as an investment, that’s basically their pension, they’re not running a charity. The safety net that people need at a time like this should come from central government, not the benevolence of private landlords or their agents. 

Assuming that the guarantee has been correctly set up, then it says the OP will be responsible for paying the tenants rent, If the tenant fails to pay it, it doesn’t say the guarantor will offer to pay half the rent for three months. 

A lot of landlords are going to be struggling just as much with finances as tenants, they’re only people with bills to pay too, you don’t know their employment circumstances. The agent has just reminded the tenant of the contract they agreed to.