Guarantor Debt

RAS

Don't bother educating the LL, send as above minus the middle paragraph. Let the LL steam at the EA and pay for their own legal advice.

Send two copies, first class, preferably from different post offices. Sufficient to count as legal notice in court according to many threads here. One letter may go astray, two is unlikely.

user1977

RAS said:

Send two copies, first class, preferably from different post offices. Sufficient to count as legal notice in court according to many threads here. One letter may go astray, two is unlikely.

And no harm in sending a duplicate Signed For in the hope it provides additional evidence.

Flopfluppet

My step son spoke to the solicitor who gave the quote for costs today. As a result SS has sent all relevant documents over to him. The cost of £675 + VAT is just to find out if the EA set everything up correctly and/or if there is a way out for SS.  The solicitor said it is not reasonable for the LL to expect to keep collecting the residual rent from SS indefinitely and she needs to start eviction proceedings.  If SS is trapped as a guarantor, the solicitor would then look into how LL hand can be forced/convinced to evict. SS would be liable for all arrears and costs but at least, if the judge were to rule that she must evict, there would be an end to the financial outlay. As it is currently he could be paying that man's rent forever.  The solicitor said once he has made the initial checks to see if SS can be released,  costs will escalate rapidly. I dread to think how much he will have to pay and wonder if his house will be in jeopardy.  He's 1 year into his first mortgage. 

Flopfluppet

As an extra, SS is concerned that because tenant has a history of mental health issues, is in the middle of a mental health crisis, and has children that he may not be able to be evicted as he is vulnerable.  I don't know how things like that work (SS has informed both police and social services repeatedly and they have done nothing).

gt568

Why didn't he just send the letter as advised himself?

propertyrental

Seems like a lot of money for very limited additional advice, with the prosepect of considerable extra legal fees to come......

Flopfluppet

gt568 said:

Why didn't he just send the letter as advised himself?

Apparently today he was told via a woman his wife knows at the school gate who is married to a solicitor that he has effectively signed a never ending contract and needs to take proper legal advice. So he's taken that advice and sent everything to the solicitor.  He's had endless people that he's shared the problem with giving him all kinds of opinions so i think he just wanted someone to deal with it as he's obviously weary and very worried. 
He did say even if he sent the letter and she did took him to court he would still wouldn't know if he could get out of it.
I appreciate all your advice though, I can only pass the info on and leave it to him. 
I will update once the solicitor advises.

propertyrental

Flopfluppet said:

gt568 said:

Why didn't he just send the letter as advised himself?

.... he was told via a woman his wife knows at the school gate who is married to a solicitor that......

Oh well, in that case it makes perfect sense.

Flopfluppet

Property rental, I'm guessing from your user name that you are experienced in the rental area? Can I ask, do you think if there was no way out of the agreement for him and it goes to court, would the judge (even if he rules that SS needs to pay costs/arrears) be likely to rule that LL must now start the eviction process because the advise from school gate solicitor was that LL cannot be made to evict tenant. His advice was "you're going to have a massive expense: arrears, costs and then some and could be paying his rent indefinitely ". Surely not?

user1977

Flopfluppet said:

Property rental, I'm guessing from your user name that you are experienced in the rental area? Can I ask, do you think if there was no way out of the agreement for him and it goes to court, would the judge (even if he rules that SS needs to pay costs/arrears) be likely to rule that LL must now start the eviction process because the advise from school gate solicitor was that LL cannot be made to evict tenant. His advice was "you're going to have a massive expense: arrears, costs and then some and could be paying his rent indefinitely ". Surely not?

You've already had advice in this thread about how unenforceable the guarantee appears to be (signed online, not even by him!).

But yes, if it had been a valid guarantee, as discussed above the guarantor can't dictate what the landlord does with the tenant.