Son not paying uni rent and I'm the guarantor

AvaloniaF

My son is 24 and in his last year at uni. Our relationship is not great ( long story) and he has not been communicating well with me, or any other family, for months. He will occasionally texts if he needs something urgent but that is all.
This morning I have had an email from his uni accommadation. It was addressed to him and was a final warning regarding paying his rent. His rent should be paid from his student loan which more than covers it. This is the first I have heard of it. It says they have tried to contact him numerous times with no response and if his rent isn't paid by the end of this week ( £2600 this installment) a 3% charge will be added. I am his guarantor but my situation has changed vastly since I signed many months ago. I have now separated from my partner and am a single mum to two younger children. Would 3% charge mean 3% of the whole amount now or per annum? Would arranging a payment plan with the landlord effect my credit rating ? ( preferred option if credit rating and ability to get a mortgage not affected). Or should I ask a family member to lend me the full amount if they can? ( humiliating option). Any advice very welcome.

[Deleted User]

AvaloniaF said:

My son is 24 and in his last year at uni. Our relationship is not great ( long story) and he has not been communicating well with me, or any other family, for months. He will occasionally texts if he needs something urgent but that is all.
This morning I have had an email from his uni accommadation. It was addressed to him and was a final warning regarding paying his rent. His rent should be paid from his student loan which more than covers it. This is the first I have heard of it. It says they have tried to contact him numerous times with no response and if his rent isn't paid by the end of this week ( £2600 this installment) a 3% charge will be added. I am his guarantor but my situation has changed vastly since I signed many months ago. I have now separated from my partner and am a single mum to two younger children. Would 3% charge mean 3% of the whole amount now or per annum? Would arranging a payment plan with the landlord effect my credit rating ? ( preferred option if credit rating and ability to get a mortgage not affected). Or should I ask a family member to lend me the full amount if they can? ( humiliating option). Any advice very welcome.

You'd need to read the contract to find out how the 3% charge will be calculated and applied.  Arranging a payment plan with the landlord won't show on your credit files.  What would show is if the landlord eventually took you and your son to court over the unpaid rent and a CCJ was issued.  If a payment plan is in place then a landlord is less likely to take legal action.

sourcrates

I think you need to try to talk to your son, before this gets out of hand.

macman

Presumably it's 3% on the outstanding amount, so about £78.

'He texts me if he needs something urgent, but that is all': sadly that tells you all you need to know about his view of your relationship, you are just being treated as a bank.

If this is university-owned accom, you might remind him that they will not award his degree this summer until any debts are cleared.

Fighter1986

I think the point you made about becoming a guarantor when your circumstances were vastly different is very valid here.

As others have said, the only time this would affect your credit worthiness is if the landlord personally sued you and you failed to pay the judgement amount in full within 30 days.

If I were in your position, I'd reach out to my son and explain that I am doing the following:

I'd write to the landlord and advise that I will cover the backlogged rent as per my obligations as a guarantor, but that due to my changed circumstances, I can only do this in installments, and that I now rescind my future agreement to guarantor another shorthold tenancy agreement, and that if this means the eviction of my son from his property then so be it.

I'd explain to my son that I will not write to the landlord in this manner if he pays his dues within seven days.

I'd provide him absolutely no latitude whatsoever, unless it transpires that some tragedy has befallen him in which case I would still not be prepared to expose myself to any further financial risk but instead I would give him one chance to come back home, get a job, earn himself a proper float while paying me rent, and send him out to the world once again with enough in the bank to look after himself. If he screwed up again, I'd march him down to the local authority homeless office. 

He cannot be allowed to believe it's OK to walk through life like this.

You and I know it is not, and if this is the only way he'll learn, so be it.

MEM62

Fighter1986 said:

I'd write to the landlord and advise that I will cover the backlogged rent as per my obligations as a guarantor, but that due to my changed circumstances, I can only do this in installments, and that I now rescind my future agreement to guarantor another shorthold tenancy agreement, and that if this means the eviction of my son from his property then so be it.

You cannot arbitrarily withdraw from your obligation as a guarantor.  You are only free of the obligation when tenancy agreement ends or if the landlord releases you from your it.   
I what you are suggesting were possible guarantors would withdraw from agreements at will therefore making the whole process pointless.   

Voyager2002

I think you need to know the context. There is a nationwide rent strike by students in the wake of Covid and the lockdown, and it seems likely that large amounts will be written off. You need to find out whether your son is part of thisor is doing his own thing, and lots of details such as whether or not he is actually living in the accommodation, and if he is why he believes it is appropriate to withold the rent.

So I suggest a polite text explaining that since you are a guarantor for his rent you are directly affected by the issue and asking him to telephone you and let him know what is going on. If that does not work, see if another family member could perhaps have a conversation with him. Failing that, see if you can contact the student union at his university: they should have a housing officer who will know the general situation.

You can also get support and some legal advice from Acorn, a nationwide tenants' union.

macman

For the avoidance of doubt, is the accom university-owned or private? With a guarantor in place, I would assume the latter (do university-owned residences use guarantors?) If so, regardless of rent strike, the private LL is certainly not going to write off the debt owed when there is a guarantor in place.