Failure to carry out affordability check

Jaytee

My son who is 19 is employed and earns a gross salary of £25k has decided to move out with his student girlfriend (zero income but maintenance loans). He has £20k of savings from a child trust fund and she has no savings. He has signed a contract on a flat with a monthly rental of £2200. I am aghast. How can this happen? I have been away and seeing him tomorrow. It was through a lettings agency afaik and I’m struggling to understand how on earth they would facilitate this. Given that there is no cooling off period, is there anything that can be done to stop this.
Thank you for reading.

user1977

As far as I'm aware it's up to the landlord (and nobody else) whether or what sort of affordability check they do. I take it nobody has signed up as a guarantor?

_Penny_Dreadful

Jaytee said:

My son who is 19 is employed and earns a gross salary of £25k has decided to move out with his student girlfriend (zero income but maintenance loans). He has £20k of savings from a child trust fund and she has no savings. He has signed a contract on a flat with a monthly rental of £2200. I am aghast. How can this happen? I have been away and seeing him tomorrow. It was through a lettings agency afaik and I’m struggling to understand how on earth they would facilitate this. Given that there is no cooling off period, is there anything that can be done to stop this.
Thank you for reading.

If he’s signed the contract then there’s nothing he can do to stop this without being in breech of contract. Is he the sole tenant with the girlfriend as a permitted occupier or are they joint tenants? £2200pcm sounds a lot but I don’t know what sized property or where it is so maybe that’s the going rate for the area. 

It’s possible that a combination of his income, her student loans, maybe some rent offered upfront (say 6 months worth) and possibly a guarantor on her side was enough for the landlord to feel comfortable letting the property to him. 

Jaytee

user1977 said:

As far as I'm aware it's up to the landlord (and nobody else) whether or what sort of affordability check they do. I take it nobody has signed up as a guarantor?

No, my son asked me and my husband to be guarantors and that’s when we found out the extent of his idiocy!

Jaytee

@_Penny_Dreadful it’s a one bedroom flat in Islington. She doesn’t have a guarantor so potentially it’s in his name only. Maybe I’m clutching at straws but he is only 19 and totally naive. Not a legal defence but I thought sone due diligence on the part of the letting agency would weed out this sort of thing.

Jaytee

I’ve asked for a copy of the contract to check for break clauses. I’m in shock to be honest.

user1977

Jaytee said:

user1977 said:

As far as I'm aware it's up to the landlord (and nobody else) whether or what sort of affordability check they do. I take it nobody has signed up as a guarantor?

No, my son asked me and my husband to be guarantors and that’s when we found out the extent of his idiocy!

So the landlord asked for guarantors but then accepted him/them without any guarantors?

Jaytee

@user1977 My understanding is that they wanted a guarantor for her but happy to proceed without one for him. God knows why. 

deannagone

You need to check the paperwork as you have said.  If the LL requires a guarantor to rent the flat to them, and you refuse to be a guarantor, I don't see how your son will be able to rent the flat. I can't see that the LL or LA would agree to rent the flat to them if they don't have a guarantor.    I don't really see how the letting paperwork can be complete at this stage.  

At what stage in the process is your son? Things need to be clarified.  Have you already signed the guarantor paperwork (it should be a deed, signed by two witnesses otherwise it wouldn't be valid)?

If you haven't even seen the letting contract, any agreement to be guarantor wouldn't hold up in court anyway.  Both you and your son need to do more research into what can and can't be done when signing for a tenancy/to be a guarantor.  Googling is an easy way to do this.  The Shelter website is a good reliable source of information.

Does your son still want to rent the flat?  If he does and he meets the letting criteria I am afraid you can't stop him.  He's an adult legally.  You can refuse to be a guarantor though if you haven't already signed the paperwork and as I said, if you didn't see the letting contract, and the guarantor deed wasn't witnessed, it probably isn't valid..

Jaytee

Thank you. I’ve just found out and I do know he paid a fee of £450 to take the advert down. 

He has just texted to say he has signed an agreement but not a contract. Can anyone tell me what the difference is please?

RHemmings

Which ombudsman scheme does the EA belong to? Most often it seems to be The Property Ombudsman Scheme, but it could be The Property Redress Scheme. I'll assume TPOS unless the OP can tell us which scheme the EA belongs to.

While there is nothing that I could find (past midnight alert) in TPOS's code of practice specifically about affordability checks, there is clause 1f in the code of practice for letting agents (England - OP where are they in the UK?) 

Basically clause 1f says that the EA must take particular care in the case of clients who may be disadvantaged due to a number of possible reasons, including age and lack of knowledge. 

Section 2, on duty of care, may also apply. Especially 2b, if the client (tenant) has been given bad advice, then that breaks the code as suitable advice should be given.

https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/documents/Codes/TPOE22-7_Code_of_Practice_for_Residential_Letting_Agents_A4_FINAL.pdf

Of course, this is all irrelevant if the EA is a member of PRS instead. But, I'll post this now. 

Basically, if the legal route won't work, sometimes a complaint to the EA using their formal complaints process followed by a complaint to the relevant ombudsman scheme may be a possible strategy.