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 ?

I know what a guarantor is and what they are signing up to.

I think my comment was in reply to Persiancatlady who said 'What cannot understand is that in some cases people say that the guarantors can't really afford to pay for the debts but from personal experience (see my post above) I know that the credit and finance checks are even more stringent on a guarantor than a tenant, which is what I cannot understand'.

It all made sense in my head at the time.

I think it's true though that people are being guarantors without really understanding the obligations or expecting to have to pay.

I live in France, but it seems the situation is similar. My partner and I stood as guarantors for a friend because the rule letting agents often use here is income has to be three or more times the rent, and she was €30 short. Retired teacher = public worker pension = safest bet on the planet, which made me really angry they were going to turn her down, because she had no family to turn to. We did read the agreement, but I knew as well as I know my own name that she would sell the family jewels, or even her own body, rather than put us in any difficulty. Unfortunately, and most unexpectedly, she died (aged 59) and the agent came sniffing around us. Luckily a lawyer friend of ours helped us to write a letter saying that since she died with no known family, her belongings could be quickly auctioned off and the flat rented out again, not to mention she had paid a 2-month deposit that no one was going to be claiming back. That scared the bastards off but the whole thing cost us a few sleepless nights - on top of the grieving. Shameless, heartless bloody sharks.

Ihaterealitytv

I'm surprised by how many people say they'd never be a guarantor so easily. My son just got a place at uni, and there were no spaces left in halls of residence. We soon found a privately rented house, but I either had to guarantee his rent or pay a years rent in advance. We were unable to find a house where I wasn't needed as a guarantor.

It is hard but there are places and negotiations. Yes it will probably be in the less popular places but if you can't afford it you can't afford it. Some places take 3 months upfront and my DC uni found her a place that didn't need one (even though officially they said they needed one).

Why should people sign saying they will cover it of they cannot afford to? Irresponsible surely? What about people estranged or with difficult relationships with their DC? Or DC that have no sense with money etc. What about being able to keep a roof over the head of other children? If I could afford to pay it YES I would absolutely be guarentor. But if I had to find 100 a week we would be unable to pay our mortgage etc.

I wonder how many people that say they'd never be a guarantor would tell their kid he couldn't go to uni in my position?

They can go to uni if choose one within 1.5 hr commute from home (I commute this distance) or go to the uni for help. Also negotiate with LL. It isn't ideal but I don't understand why people sign if they cannot afford to pay if needed.

It's true that for most student rentals there is a joint tenancy and any of the guarantors can be purchased for any rent unpaid or damages. Its a harsh system, but the rate of defaulting on rent is very high, and students quite often vanish partway thru a tenancy (they may leave, or more often they just fancy moving in with gf/bf ). In this case the uni would not tell u where they went even if they know, (due to data protection); also, they are pretty young, may be away from home for first time, and u cannot apply much pressure to them to pay up (they prob spent all their loan and just can't, and u can only push so hard before it is seen as harassment ).
Also, if major damage occurs, it's very unlikely one tenant will say that they were solely responsible (more likely they will all say they had nothing to do with it!). You cannot take someone to small claims when u cannot show they caused the problem, but under a joint tenancy, u can claim from the guarantors, as they are jointly responsible for the set of tenants.
This is obviously a last resort, and many students are great, look after their digs, and manage their money, but students can be students, that is why things are done this way.

I meant pursued, not purchased!

I said earlier up thread that a friend has to be a guarantor for his elderly mother - in case she dies. Vigbymumparis 's story shows that it does happen. (Sorry to hear such a sad story - )

In my friend's case it might not be so straightforward.

Belongings have to be removed and rent is due every month. A LL has bills to pay and cannot wait until everything is sorted out. Harsh but unfortunately the way it sometimes is.

And Billyjoelene is right about what can happen in shared houses - students or otherwise. It happens again and again.

My daughter is hoping to get into Oxbridge but the truth is if she can't stay in halls she won't be because nobody will accept me as a garantor, I can't even rent a house myself but I can buy one, it's mental

Pisssssedoff I wouldn't worry about it. The vast majority of Oxford and Cambridge provide rooms in college for all first year students and again in the third year as the whole system is built on the idea of a college community. Second year accommodation is sometimes outside college but the College often take responsibility for making sure students find appropriate accommodation. It is almost inconceivable that an academically able student would be prevented from taking up a place due to issues over accommodation.

Lots of uni halls also expect guarentors now. My daughters did but eventually relented as she couldn't find anywhere else.

That's less likely at Oxford and Cambridge though jellybeans as the halls don't tend to be run by private companies on contract to the Colleges.

It's not just credit history that makes someone be asked for a guarantor. Some years ago we both got new jobs a couple of hours from the shithole town we'd been living in and despite having rented for a year beforehand with no issues and never any credit problems etc, at the very last minute the letting agent for our new place near work insisted we needed a guarantor. It was embarrassing to sit there and be told so in an open office (especially as the rent was only about a quarter of our combined income) while the agent looked at confirmation letters from our employers saying in an odd tone of voice, "welllllll.. you just haven't worked there very long, have you?" (ours were professional jobs at separate companies - think finance). We explained we were relocating for work purposes but they just stared at us like they'd never heard of such a thing. We weren't feckless, we had good credit histories - thankfully a relative agreed to be our guarantor. I'm very grateful the landlord had no blanket ban on renting to tenants who needed a guarantor.

I'm also glad I wasn't asked for a guarantor when I rented a place during my second year at uni - I had no-one, as soon as I went to uni my parents' attitude was that I was an adult now and on my own. I'm often amazed at hearing about parents sending money, shopping etc to their student DC!

I think that's the other thing that grates seeing some shiny suited dickhead on £20,000 judging your life and worthiness of handing over 50% of your salary for a shoe box. Annoys me a lot lol

Pisssssedofff - I never saw it as judgement any more than I see it as judgement when I have to pay for my on-line purchases up front instead of after delivery.

It is a business transaction.

I am self-employed so when I looked at renting I had to pay all of it up front - or supply a guarantor. Fair enough. No surprise.

If you were having building work done for example Pisssssedofff you'd be unlikely to pay the builder £25k up front knowing that if he didn't turn up you would have to find him and pursue him through the courts without even knowing if he had any money to pay you. (You might give John Lewis an equivalent amount on trust knowing that you could fairly easily get it back if they didn't deliver the kitchen).

It isn't personal