Advice on being a guarantor please.

[cornish seagull]

22yr Son (started new job this week) and his girl friend (student teacher) plus another couple (one self-employed and one just started new job) are picking up keys for tenancy of house tomorrow. Agency today inform my son and person who has just started new job that they need a guarantor before they can take up tenancy! Questions: is this usual practice and what are the pitfalls and responsibilities of Guarantors?

 

[smeariestbat]

they have your bank account details, if your son cant pay one month it comes straight your account, no warning, no questions.

 

[cornish seagull]

they have your bank account details, if your son cant pay one month it comes straight your account, no warning, no questions.

But what about the others? am I responsible for them as well i.e damage etc?

 

[smeariestbat]

if you are the sole guarantor on the agreement, then you will be the guarantor for the agreement you signed. depends on whether or not they have seperate tenancy agreements.

 

[portslade seagull]

Just hope no-one misses their part of thepayment because you are liable straight away. Done it years ago for my Son and we had to push/force him to pay on time ... never again

 

[Geordie Seagull]

I don't post on here very often but there is an inaccuracy above so felt minded to correct it. With a guarantee a formal demand needs to be made on you to make the payment - there is no mechanism for your account being debited directly and that differs legally from the nature of a guarantee. The only way a debit could be made from your account would be if you signed a direct debit mandate in which case a guarantee would not be needed. I doubt very much that this would be the case here. A formal demand on you would be made if the primary debtor (ie your son) defaulted in the first instance. Guarantees are not to be taken lightly but the reality is that in these such situations they are relatively common and is likely to be the difference between your son getting a place or not. If it is deemed essential, I'd suggest you get a separate agreement capping the max of the guarantee - eg 2 or 3 months rent equivalent of limit the guarantee itself to a certain sum. Hope this helps

 

[Super Steve Earle]

You only guarantee your son who presumably you trust anyway and would help out if he got in to financial difficulties. The new job person sorts out their own guarantor. Yes it's normal practice and I have just done the same for my son. As Geordie says, formal demand comes first before you might be asked to pay in place of your son.

 

[Titus]

Only do it as a last resort. I ended up paying thousands because of my daughters financial problems.

 

[Tory Boy]

But what about the others? am I responsible for them as well i.e damage etc?

It is normal for you to be responsible for your son's share. Unless of course you are going to be a guarantor for them all.

Quite common for student houses.

TB

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Does anyone remember the days (as recently as the seventies) when married women had to get their husband to guarantee that payments would be made on ANY loan or long-term financial commitment?


Edit ... I've just googled up the information that it was only in 1980 that married women got the right to apply for a loan or credit in their own name.

http://www.mmu.ac.uk/humanresources/equalities/doc/gender-equality-timeline.pdf

 

[GingerBeerMan]

I don't post on here very often but there is an inaccuracy above so felt minded to correct it. With a guarantee a formal demand needs to be made on you to make the payment - there is no mechanism for your account being debited directly and that differs legally from the nature of a guarantee. The only way a debit could be made from your account would be if you signed a direct debit mandate in which case a guarantee would not be needed. I doubt very much that this would be the case here. A formal demand on you would be made if the primary debtor (ie your son) defaulted in the first instance. Guarantees are not to be taken lightly but the reality is that in these such situations they are relatively common and is likely to be the difference between your son getting a place or not. If it is deemed essential, I'd suggest you get a separate agreement capping the max of the guarantee - eg 2 or 3 months rent equivalent of limit the guarantee itself to a certain sum. Hope this helps

Happy birthday, post more often

 

[wallington seagull]

My father acted as a guarantor for a work colleague who portrayed himself as a christian, went to church every Sunday etc... He defaulted on his loan and had loads of sob stories why he couldn't make the repayments and left my dad with an evening job shifting scenery at the Congress Theatre in eastbourne after his day job commuting to Croydon in order to meet the debt. My dad always said to me afterwards - dont be a guarantor, even for your own children. He learnt the hard way.
P.S. i believe my dad's work colleague did this to more than one person, and I later found out that the other party concerned actually paid someone to put the guy in hospital. Shame.

 

[BLOCK F]

It is normal for you to be responsible for your son's share. Unless of course you are going to be a guarantor for them all.

Quite common for student house

My son shares a student house with 5 others in Oxford,where rents are very high.
Had to be guarantor for his share of the rent.Needless to say,I have threatened him with all kinds of nasties,should he default!!
Pretty grotty house for a huge rent IMHO.Anyway,exploitation of students needing accommodation is another story altogether!

 

[Sam-]

I worked for a major lettings agent in Brighton over summer, we would always contact the guarantor before taking any payment. Also each individual tenant had to have their own guarantor. Regardless of how rent was paid.

Check it out with the agent as some have different policies.

 

[Brovion]

Quite common for student house

My son shares a student house with 5 others in Oxford,where rents are very high.
Had to be guarantor for his share of the rent.Needless to say,I have threatened him with all kinds of nasties,should he default!!
Pretty grotty house for a huge rent IMHO.Anyway,exploitation of students needing accommodation is another story altogether!

Ditto. Done it for my daughter and I'm now doing it for my son. Didn't think twice.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

very common practice for shared households in my experience.....letting agents either require referencing or a guarantor (perhaps both) as you need to be able to show that you can cover the rent

at my last house there was 4 of us and my mum was my guarantor....from memory she wasn't liable for the rent if someone else couldn't pay the rent, only me....i may have got that wrong but my advice would be to study the agreement so that you know what your rights are...different letting agents operate in different ways and their loyalties tend to lie with the landlord

 

[Giraffe]

Just get on with and agree. It;s what all parents of students have to do. No choice sadly. And 95% chance it will be fine.

Unless they go off the rails, start taking drugs and stop paying the rent. But other than that it's a sure fire bet.

 

[Paul Reids Sock]

In my experience my guarantor was only liable for my share of the rent (and share of any damage caused) and they wouldn't take it without contacting him. We only fell behind with the rent once (ended up paying a week late) and the main thing I was scared about was him finding out from them calling him and him going mental at me ... they didn't even call let alone take any money.

In my experience as long as your lad takes care with the rent and keeps the landlord/agent updated with honest information then you will be fine.

As others have said I would check all the facts with the agent first but it may be the difference between them getting the place and not. The only issue we had with it was that they only told us about the need for a guarantor two days before we moved in and said it would be a £100 admin charge!! I would check for any hidden charges like that.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Just get on with and agree. It;s what all parents of students have to do. No choice sadly. And 95% chance it will be fine.

Unless they go off the rails, start taking drugs and stop paying the rent. But other than that it's a sure fire bet.

What else do you do as a student?

 

[Westdene Seagull]

22yr Son (started new job this week) and his girl friend (student teacher) plus another couple (one self-employed and one just started new job) are picking up keys for tenancy of house tomorrow. Agency today inform my son and person who has just started new job that they need a guarantor before they can take up tenancy! Questions: is this usual practice and what are the pitfalls and responsibilities of Guarantors?

Nice to see the usual crap service from letting agents !!! They should have told all the tenants at the point of agreement NOT the day before the keys are picked up. Regardless, you should only do it for your son.