Guarantee on Sons Rent

ThisIsWeird

Useful advice in this thread.
I read the OP's situation as being that his son's girlfriend is naive rather than malicious, and assumed that putting herself in a position of being evicted for failing to pay the rent will give her a council property. Clearly, if the guarantor's payments are enforced, this just won't happen, so I wonder if this has been explained clearly enough to her? Surely she cares enough to know she'd be landing potential dil in it?
Couple that with the risk of mesne (never heard of it), I hope that she (and the son) are rational and reasonable enough to realise it's a very poor move indeed, and do the right thing.
Good luck OP.

Jami74

Seawych said:

Having sold all their worldly goods his partner has decided that she does not want to go and is planning on staying in the flat until she is evicted so the council will home her and their child. 

Is this your grandchild that will potentially be homeless?

Will your son still be making a financial contribution? Are her parents in a position to help her? 

Can't help feeling sorry for her if she feels like her only option is to get evicted so the council can put them in temporary accommodation. Is she aware that it's not going to be that straightforward due to you being a guarantor? What other options does she have?

ThisIsWeird

Jami74 said:

Seawych said:

Having sold all their worldly goods his partner has decided that she does not want to go and is planning on staying in the flat until she is evicted so the council will home her and their child. 

Is this your grandchild that will potentially be homeless?

Will your son still be making a financial contribution? Are her parents in a position to help her? 

Can't help feeling sorry for her if she feels like her only option is to get evicted so the council can put them in temporary accommodation. Is she aware that it's not going to be that straightforward due to you being a guarantor? What other options does she have?

Yes, 'their' child.
Lots of info missing from this unfortunate tale, such as what the relationships are like, including son and OP. And, how reasonable the folk involved are.
I really hope it's 'simply' a case of the mum being misinformed about what could happen.

Ratkin007

I know it wasn't the question but does the girlfriend realise that if she is evicted due to not paying rent, there could be the issue of intentional homeslessness, especially if it is deemed she could have paid the rent and choose not to.  As someone else mentioned there is also temporary accommodation to contend with whilst homelessness claim is investigated and dependent on where they live they could be in unsuitable temporary accommodation for a long time.

NameUnavailable

What a mess. People always go into these arrangements with best intentions but don't think about 'what if' things go wrong.

saajan_12

As between OP (Guarantor) and LL: 
Effectively you guaranteed the tenants' obligations under the tenancy which includes the ongoing rent, which is doubled if the tenants gave notice and failed to abide by it. So you promised to pay this amount. You may be able to get out of it if the guarantee paperwork wasn't done properly as a deed, witnessed, etc. 

As between OP (Guarantor) and Gf (Tenant):
It may help to remind or clarify to the girlfriend that she won't get a council property if the eviction is through non payment of rent. Also that if you have to pay, you or son will be suing her for your losses. 

silvercar

saajan_12 said:

As between OP (Guarantor) and LL: 
Effectively you guaranteed the tenants' obligations under the tenancy which includes the ongoing rent, which is doubled if the tenants gave notice and failed to abide by it. So you promised to pay this amount. You may be able to get out of it if the guarantee paperwork wasn't done properly as a deed, witnessed, etc. 

As between OP (Guarantor) and Gf (Tenant):
It may help to remind or clarify to the girlfriend that she won't get a council property if the eviction is through non payment of rent. Also that if you have to pay, you or son will be suing her for your losses. 

If the non payment of rent is through unaffordability, due to a change in circumstances, the GF may be entitled to help.

Murphybear

theartfullodger said:

Many (many! ) guarantees are badly worded and legally unenforceable.  Read it carefully, then again, then look at Shelter's pages on guarantees.

Which country? Wales, NI ....?

Interesting.  When I was studying for my ARLA exams we were told “a guarantee is not worth the paper it is written on”.  

propertyrental

Murphybear said:

theartfullodger said:

Many (many! ) guarantees are badly worded and legally unenforceable.  Read it carefully, then again, then look at Shelter's pages on guarantees.

Which country? Wales, NI ....?

Interesting.  When I was studying for my ARLA exams we were told “a guarantee is not worth the paper it is written on”.  

Depends on the quality of the paper...... or the words.

Bookworm105

Murphybear said:

theartfullodger said:

Many (many! ) guarantees are badly worded and legally unenforceable.  Read it carefully, then again, then look at Shelter's pages on guarantees.

Which country? Wales, NI ....?

Interesting.  When I was studying for my ARLA exams we were told “a guarantee is not worth the paper it is written on”.  

then you obviously misunderstood something because, when properly executed, it would stand up in court, 
but then since when have letting agents actually known what they are doing and ARLA is just a marketing gimmick, not a chartered professional qualification

you may find this informative (for England)
Guarantors for private renters - Shelter England