Sons student rental - disaster pending

LegallyLandlord

Just a couple of extra points. 

You said there is no termination clause. Usually student lets are for a fixed term of 12 months or maybe 11 months, and the students can move out at the end without giving notice (although best check the lease) . 

The landlord can’t terminate without giving a section 21 notice of 2 months to expire no earlier than the end of the fixed term. There are lots of hoops for a landlord to jump through (must have complied with lots of regulations - see https://theindependentlandlord.com/resources/property-investors-glossary/section-21-notice/)

Alternatively, if they don’t move out, assuming no section 21 notice, it can roll into a monthly periodic tenancy although the landlord is likely to want the students to “renew” for another fixed term. 

Guarantees are standard as normally landlords only let to tenants who have income of at least 2.5x the rent. 

Finally, ask your son to make sure the landlord does an inventory before they move in, and he should expect to be given details of his deposit registration with a deposit protection scheme within 30 days of handing over the deposit - see here https://theindependentlandlord.com/resources/property-investors-glossary/deposit-protection-scheme/ )

hope that helps. 

FreeBear

Sea_Shell said:

Out of interest...

Would any of you sign as guarantor for a Niece or Nephew's student accommodation?    Or would you only ever consider it for your own children?   What if you didn't have children of your own?

Got asked if I would be a guarantor last month - It didn't take long to say "No".

I'm child free, and whilst I don't mind borrowing one for a day or two, I'm not going to put my finances or home at risk for someone else's offspring.

silvercar

There must be a lot of students whose parents don't have sufficient income to act as guarantor either because they are retired or not working. There will also be students from overseas, where a guarantor is less desirable as no one will want to sue in an overseas court to collect the money. 

user1977

silvercar said:

There must be a lot of students whose parents don't have sufficient income to act as guarantor either because they are retired or not working. There will also be students from overseas, where a guarantor is less desirable as no one will want to sue in an overseas court to collect the money. 

It gets even dafter when young working people are being expected as standard to find guarantors - they may well be more creditworthy than their parents. How typical is it for the landlords even to carry out any credit checks of the guarantors?

Cash-Cows

I would think landlords would have extreme difficulty enforcing the clause especially if all other students paid up on time. The one who did a runner is also liable. Would be interested in whether landlords on here have enforced these?  FWIW I signed these for my kids but the other students they rented with had parents who were all minted. 

Olinda99

Normally the person demanding a guarantor will only accept a property-owning person

 That way there are assets to put a charging order on should substantial funds be required

sheramber

My son could stay in halls for 1 st year and 4 th year only.

Fortunately, he was able to rent a private flat, with 4 others, rented through the university, for the years 2, 3 and 4.  

tooldle

We’ve done this for our daughter although it was only for her room. Each housemate had their own agreement. Now as a working adult she has signed a document to say she has somewhere else  to go and to seek support, in the event that she cannot pay her rent, vacating the room immediately hence no guarantor needed. 

user1977

tooldle said:

she has signed a document to say she has somewhere else  to go and to seek support, in the event that she cannot pay her rent, vacating the room immediately 

That...doesn't sound enforceable. But as long as the landlord thinks it works...

silvercar

Olinda99 said:

Normally the person demanding a guarantor will only accept a property-owning person

 That way there are assets to put a charging order on should substantial funds be required

The problem is that a group of students could between them have parents of a variety of means and be in the UK or abroad. 

We were happy to act as guarantor for our kids, though we did change the wording on the guarantor form to limit our guarantee to the rent due from our offspring as well as a proportionate share of damages. Speaking to a few estate agents in student lettings over the years, they did say that they suspected that the occasional student had forged a parent's signature.