Student Housing guarantor insurance

Steveruk76

Hi, before I go down the Google rabbit hole, has anyone investigated in insurance to cover being a student housing guarantor. If so, any recommendations of where to go would be warmly received. I'm guarantor for my daughter, but was interested in seeing if there was a way of mitigating any risk to the tenancy. Thanks 

DullGreyGuy

Never seen such a product... Rent Guarantee insurance exists for the landlord but it normally has certain requirements on the tenant for it to be valid. 

There would be a significant moral risk on such a product for a guarantor given you clearly will be closely connected to the person you are guaranteeing and it wouldnt be hard for the two of you to scheme them defaulting and so the insurance picking up the bill. 

propertyrental

Never seen such a policy. If you find one, let us know!

Biggest risk is if daughter has a joint and several tenancy with others, and you are guaranteeing the whole tenancy (which is the norm).

Some guarantee agreements limit liability for rent to the % of your daughter (eg 1/3 ofmonthly rent if 3 names on the tenancy). So read carefully and negotiate if you can.

Agreements should be executed as a deed (so witnessed), with copy of tenancy agreement supplied in advance, or they are not valid (though some courts may allow otherwise dubious paperwork....)

eddddy

propertyrental said:

Never seen such a policy. If you find one, let us know!

Google seemed to find it fairly easily (there seems to be just one company offering it)  :

https://thenegotiator.co.uk/at-last-insurance-for-student-sharers-guarantor-insure/
https://www.guarantorinsure.co.uk/

DullGreyGuy said:

There would be a significant moral risk on such a product for a guarantor given you clearly will be closely connected to the person you are guaranteeing and it wouldnt be hard for the two of you to scheme them defaulting and so the insurance picking up the bill. 

In simple terms, they seem to say it addresses the "Joint and Several Liability" aspect. So it doesn't cover non-payment by the person you are guaranteeing - it covers you if you end-up paying the landlord because one of their housemates hasn't paid.

I haven't read the details, so I don't know how 'realistic' it is.


I'm generally very skeptical of new 'exotic' insurance products like this. Sometimes the headline sounds great, but the devil is in the detail. But who knows?

dimbo61

So before you sign any guarantor form you should also be supplied the Tenancy agreement, addendum, and other documentation the Student LL needs to supply to the students.
EPC, EICR, GSC, pat testing, How to rent, right to rent. Deposit information You can check on the Land registry for £3 who is the landlord.
How many students will be living in the property ? 
More than 3 may well mean it's a HMO with all Rules,regs and licence requirements.
Students have No credit history so little point doing a credit history check hence Mum/Dad as guarantor.
Perfectly normal

Signed Student  HMO Landlord 

GrumpyDil

Agreements should be executed as a deed (so witnessed), with copy of tenancy agreement supplied in advance, or they are not valid (though some courts may allow otherwise dubious paperwork....)

Oops think I keep forgetting to mention that to all the companies who ask me to act as guarantor for my daughter 😂

sunnyshiney

Hi. I'm just wondering if you got anywhere with your guarantor insurance?

We've just received an email suggesting this type of insurance as if one of the other students doesn't pay (4 will be renting the property) then apparently we'll be liable! Never heard this before. We've been quoted £99 for the year. Are there any cheaper and legally, do we really need this insurance? 

Thanks.

macman

sunnyshiney said:

Hi. I'm just wondering if you got anywhere with your guarantor insurance?

We've just received an email suggesting this type of insurance as if one of the other students doesn't pay (4 will be renting the property) then apparently we'll be liable! Never heard this before. We've been quoted £99 for the year. Are there any cheaper and legally, do we really need this insurance? 

Thanks.

If it's a joint tenancy, then all the students are jointly and severally liable, as are their guarantors.
If you cannot afford to pay the full property rental, plus any damages, should the student or students default, then yes, you do need some insurance.
Or decline to be a guarantor.

inspectorperez

sunnyshiney said:

Hi. I'm just wondering if you got anywhere with your guarantor insurance?

We've just received an email suggesting this type of insurance as if one of the other students doesn't pay (4 will be renting the property) then apparently we'll be liable! Never heard this before. We've been quoted £99 for the year. Are there any cheaper and legally, do we really need this insurance? 

Thanks.

I took out a policy in 2020 for my youngest son who was sharing a property with 3 others. 

The risk covered was basically rent arrears only (it was quite a high rent) in the event of non payment by the co tenants.

The policy was with a company called onlymyshare and the premium was £99 p.a.

Never had to claim under the policy but it did provide peace of mind. The policy did not cover damage to the property and I took the view that my son would have to fight his corner if that situation arose and wasn't covered by the 4 bonds which were in place.