To have been so annoyed by this selfish people and to warn people from being guarantors ?

[Spice22]

Come back from holiday and catch up on my guilty pleasure ; Can't pay, we'll take it away!

In this episode, the parents signed as guarantors for their daughter's rent. She owes the landlord £3000. High court enforcement has gone to the parents, as the guarantors, to ask for the money. You can tell thy are only just making ends meet. Long story short , the daughter tells the parents "It's your debt, you pay it".

Genuinely shocked and angry on their behalf. How is it even ok that the parents are the ones threatened with losing their possessions, before they've threatened the daughter ??

Then another one shows a gentleman having to pay back more than £60k because he was a guarantor !

AIBU to be so shocked ,and annoyed, that such selfish and ungrateful people exist ?

Actually, mouse, it does mean youre less likely to pay. Financial trouble will affect your rent money quicker and will leave your landlord with a mortgage bill with no means to pay it.

I think there should definitely be some more clarity on what the guarantor role means. A friend was guarantor for her son and his girlfriend. They split with the girlfriend remaining in their shared flat but no way for friend to relinquish guarantor role.

I work for an advice charity and have seen a lot of people (often grandparents) who didn't understand what they were taking on when they became guarantors.

My husband has been asked to be a guarantor for both his nephew and niece. He declined. I believe he was right to as both have had financial difficulties and neither was working at the time, but I think niece and nephew both resented it and our relationships with them have not been the same since.

Well when I was a student my mum and dad were a guarantors for mine and DH's mortgage (we married and bought a house young) it was cheaper than renting and dh had a deposit. They said they would help us pay it if we couldn't anyway so why not make it official. However they could easily afford to pay if we couldn't. We agreed we would sell if our circumstances changed. That was years ago, and we never needed their help and when I graduated and got a job we re-mortgaged. It's all about trust really (and genuinely being able to pay the debt if it comes to it). Just because it is a disaster sometimes doesn't mean that it always is

I would do it in a heartbeat for a child of mine assuming they were responsible and I could afford to pay the debt if necessary.

That's scary, username. I'm guarantor for my nephew, has lived with me from young, but I didn't realise about being responsible for the other students. Thankfully they seem like sensible young people. First year, where they didn't need a guarantor would have been a different story, as a couple of them were total brats.

I suppose it makes sense, though. If there is a lot of damage done to a property, there may be no way of proving who did it, so all the residents would need to pay. I've watched people sue their flat/house mates before, in court judge Judy when they've lost a deposit because of the other persons behaviour.

You don't need to guarantee the entire rent - it's quite normal to just guarantee your child's portion. Just ask the right questions and read the contract before signing. It's not "rocket science".

My parents were guarantors for me after I was made redundant the same week that I was due to sign a new tenancy agreement, and had to sign up as a temp. I had no idea that they were liable for my flatmate's rent as well as none - lucky we both always paid on time!

They were also guarantors for my cousin, as a kindness to my aunt. Sadly my cousin seemed to view her housing benefit as fun money, leaving my parents to pay. I'm still fuming about that.

Being guarantor for all the people in the house (jointly liable ) is standard in some uni cities. For dc1 at 2 different Unis I only had to be guarantor for them, for dc2 it was joint - I queried it with the landlord and he allowed me to modify the contract to just cover my own DC - he did that on the basis that all the other parents had already signed the joint contract so he was covered.

My friend had to pass a credit check to be guarantor for her DC

www.lettingfocus.com/pages/myarticles_Guarantorsintenancyagreements.html

Oh and dc2 asked around and the joint liability was standard in that city.

The link above explains about joint and several tenancys....very common in student accomodation.....hardly just a question of reading through the contract properly argybargy !!!

When the estate agents asked for a guarantor when I was a student (about 15 years back), I made a lie of omission like I was estranged from my parents. "There's no one who can sign this"

I provided bank statements and the paperwork from my student loan to say I could pay. And apparently that was good enough.

These days, though, can you even get a student flat without someone signing this? I hate this system, there has to be a better way.

ArgyMargy how can you alter the contract like that if the person being guaranteed is signing up to a joint and several tenancy? You wouldn't be guaranteeing their full legal obligations.

I hated the risk of joint contracts - especially if you don't know all the other tenants well - but in the extremely high demand city I rented in for years there really were no other options. You had to agree to a decent place at the time of seeing it or it'd be gone the next day - they had absolutely no incentive to vary the contract terms for you.

Lifegavememelons I think it's quite shocking that the landlord let you do that, presumably without even telling the other parents.

I hate the system whereby a guarantor is liable for all the tenants, agreed - but I'm a freelancer renting in London and up until my current tenancy have always needed a guarantor to be able to rent a place. It does not mean I'm 'less likely to pay' or 'more likely to trash the place', thank you very much somekindofmother; you can be responsible and self employed all at the same time. I'm so glad my current landlord is nowhere near as judgmental and narrow minded (incidentally in ten years of renting I've never missed a payment or lost any part of a deposit).

The student or shared rental is something a lot of people don't fully understand. If you share a house you usually rent it "jointly and severally" which mens all of you are responsible. (Otherwise the landlord would spend all his time and money chasing people who said -"It's not my debt, I paid my rent, it's his/her debt") You need to be aware of that when you sign. So - if you are a guarantor, you are also a guarantor for the entire rent.

It isn't a bad system although like every system can be abused. It means lenders/landlords can lend/rent to people who are bad risks. It gives people with poor credit history and no savings a start.

Sadly kind people get caught. They often think it means "vouching for " someone, saying that they are nice guys or of "good character". They feel they cannot say no to family or close friends who ask. They have no idea of the consequences.

I was involved through work with a hard-working family man whose brother had defaulted on the rent for a fairly expensive London house. The tenant's business went under, he was in serious debt, he ran away. The brother had to find many thousands of pounds. And he had had no idea that being a guarantor for his brother meant anything more than giving a character reference.

The student accommodation situation is a mess though and exploitative.

I'm a guarantor for my DS's student accommodation, there's no way he could have signed a tenancy agreement without one. Thankfully he is very good with money and has budgeted well to be able to pay his rent as the rent on his studio flat in London is more than my mortgage payment on a 3 bed semi!

Mouse there are always exceptions, I only said less likely, as in statistically less likely than someone who does not require a guarantor, not 'definitely won't' and statistically less likely is a fact, not a personal insult, it's why guarantors were brought in for people who want to rent property that costs a higher percentage of their income, or have inconsistent income etc, it's to protect landlords from a high risk tenant.

As the rent on the property I own just covers the mortgage, service change and ground rent with a little left over for emergency repairs and maintenance (built up over the years), I cannot afford for people to not pay, so I minimise my risk... but more than that, if I did have a tenant like the one in the OP I would feel awful going after the parents who only tried to help their child out, it would be emotionally very upsetting for me, however as I could not afford not to receive said rent I would have to, subsequently I don't put myself in a position where that could be an issue for me.

ALWAYS read the contract. Don't sign a legally binding document if you don't understand it. If you don't understand it, take it to someone independent who does and if that means paying a solicitor then a few £100 upfront then that is better than a few £1000 later down the line.

Don't feel embarrassed if you don't understand it, it may deliberately be drafted to be confusing.

I'm guarantor for DD1's student flat. I would have no way of paying it if she didn't but I trust her 100% and I know that she'd never expect me to pay it.

I'm sure it's only for her rent but even if it was for the whole flat DD1 would sort out whatever issues occured with any flat members without involving me.

ifyoulikepinacolada - I agree with you that self-employed freelancers are not irresponsible. I have been one for 18 years! . But I know that there have been times when I have been down to my last £££ with the mortgage due and no work on the horizon. I build up reserves and pay most things up front if I can as I really don't know what will affect my income. ( I know that does not just apply to self-employed though)

.i paid £1500 to not be one....thats my sons last 3 months rent and my liability over....

Usernametaken - just to check (as I couldn't tell from your post whether this was a past situation or present) - you know that this is a deposit, not the last three months' rent? People often think they can not pay the final month (say) because it's 'equal' to the deposit. This isn't ok as you've effectively robbed the landlord of the security of the deposit - they've got nothing to claim against anymore - and (probably most importantly from your point of view) it could lead to (worst case) the landlord bringing a claim against you and (best case) your son not having a reference from his last landlord which will make it much harder for him to rent in the future.

The letting agent said it was the last 3 months rent paid upfront....this was the only way i could get out of being a guarantor.

StarOnTheTree - I am not sure if you meant that if your DD was unable to pay YOU would have no way of paying or whether you mean that she would not have been able to rent the flat if you hadn't guaranteed it? Sorry -
However, as a general point, if you guarantee something you are usually a home owner which means that as long as the creditor gets a CCJ he/she can put a charging order against your property.

(Ps - I am sure your DD is sensible - not suggesting otherwise)

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/action-your-creditor-can-take/charging-orders/