Potential Guarantor for daughter & friends ( via OpenRent ) Pitfalls ?

deejaybee

Hi all,

My daughter and 3 of her ( female) friends want to rent a 4-bed house between them. They all recently finished university. The Landlord requires guarantors, as although they will all be working full time... their records show part time work while they were at university.

 I have been emailed to act as a guarantor for my daughter,  but reading through the info, i could potentially on the hook for my daughter's friends also ( as the other guarantors would be for my daughter obviously..).... Have pasted the info below -  Just wanted re-assurance that this is pretty standard stuff ?  I havnt been thru the actual contract yet.

What Are Guarantors?

Guarantors may have to pay the rent and the cost of any damage to the property. This will only be the case if the tenant fails to do so. 

Guarantors aren't able to also be a tenant in the property, they must be able to guarantee the rent separately to the tenant's living in the property. 

What Do Guarantors Have to Do?

Guarantors will be asked to sign the same tenancy agreement as the tenants, and so become legally liable to perform the same duties as tenants. 

Guarantors need to be UK residents.

Most landlords choose for guarantors to be comprehensively referenced alongside the tenant to ensure they’re suitable. 

Most tenancies in the UK are created as Joint Tenancies (whereby several parties are named on one agreement) and it is important to note that this will mean that all parties are jointly liable for all the obligations named in the agreement.

In plain English that means that any one tenant or guarantor can be asked to pay the full amount owed by any or all of the other people named on the agreement, should it come to it.

Thanks

DullGreyGuy

Thats correct, with a joint tenancy each tenant is 100% liable for the full rent (jointly and severally) so if two of the girls dont pay the landlord can chase any of them for the missing money not just the two that didnt pay.

As a guarantor you promise to step in to their shoes so if they did pay the rent for 6 months and trashed the place you'd have a very big bill coming. 

Check the guarantor deed for exit clauses too, normally there are none, so you have no mechanism to stop being a guarantor until the tenancy is terminated. In principle you could ask the landlord but no sensible landlord would agree to lose the protection of a guarantor. 

I'd be very cautious about agreeing to be a guarantor

tacpot12

Have a read of this advice from Shelter: Guarantors for private renters - Shelter England

Robin9

Is your daughter (and her friends) used to paying for gas and electric ?      and insurances ?

gelato_cat

It is standard, yes, because all the tenants would be jointly and individually responsible for the whole rent.  And you're guaranteeing your daughter will meet all her financial obligations.

If they can wait until they have 3+ monthly payslips, I think it might be easier to find a place where the LL doesn't insist on guarantors.

Once you're a guarantor, you're basically stuck with it until the tenancy ends.  In certain situations, your daughter (or any of the other tenants) could make a unilateral decision to end the tenancy, thereby releasing everyone (the tenants need to leave the property and the guarantors can stop guaranteeing).  However, not all rental contracts permit this.

deejaybee

Cheers for the advice everyone, definitely food for thought !

Grumpy_chap

Just don't do it.

Not only are you on the hook for the full rent for all four occupants, that might continue beyond the current occupants if one of the girls moves out and supplements a replacement.  Or your daughter moves out leaving the three original occupants and then you are still liable for the three plus whoever replaces your daughter.

You may feel you have information to allow you to vet the probity of the current four tenants.  Do you have any information to vet the probity of the future tenants once the original four are all migrated?  

Stubod

....noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.......

Schwarzwald

1- No.

2- Rather offer the LL x-months rent upfront provided by each parent to their daugthers and each daugther pays back their parent their loan. LL should be happy to have rent prepaid and the issues of non-payment are isolated to each daugher-parent relationship.

but on acting as Guarantors for your daugther's friends ... simply ... No way.