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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Can't get a guarantor for student accommodation

76 replies

EddyF · 20/08/2018 19:13

Sorry probably wrong place to post. Has anyone been through this? Niece has been aacepted at a university outside London. Missed out on student accommodation provided by the university so has a few viewings from estate agents. She's just received an email from one confirming the viewing but also states "all students need a guarantor.

There is absolutely no one in the immediate family that can help with this.

Is there a way to get around this issue? rent will be paid by maintenance from SL.

Thanks

OP posts:

ProseccoPoppy · 20/08/2018 21:39

I know someone who had a claim made against him on a joint and several liability guarantee (it was not his son who defaulted). The landlord figured my friend was a good bet for the money so chose to pursue him over the other parents. My friend could afford it without any financial hardship, but was understandably pissed (mostly with himself for not taking legal advice/thinking it through properly before signing). So please don’t sign a guarantee if you can’t afford it - that has the potential to get really messy. Might be worth her speaking to the uni bursar’s office - they are likely to have come across this before so should have some ideas.

SmallestInTheClass · 20/08/2018 21:42

Speak to the uni asap. They will have a student support team. You might find they can put her on a waiting list for a uni accommodation place. Do they have a website on widening participation? Most do and should be able to give advice at least.

scaryteacher · 20/08/2018 21:43

If by outside London you mean RHUL then there is this: www.housesearch.rhul.ac.uk/Accommodation

ohnothanks · 20/08/2018 21:43

Yes, there are companies that do this on an insurance basis now. Sucks and is an extra cost but what can you do??
Most Unis will have their own accommodation for clearing/ late applicants, it might not be glam and posaibly will be not the best positioned but it will be reliàble and wont have a dodgy landlord.

The alternative is to defer a year and work and save capital for a deposit.

BigLass9 · 21/08/2018 00:19

If it was my own child I would trust them to pay their rent though so wouldn't be worrying about whether I have hundreds to spare. I'm sure that is true of most parents who act as guarantor.

Hmmm well unfortunately even the most reliable teen in the world can drop out or become ill...few can predict the future. Many drop out and many struggle with money.

BigLass9 · 21/08/2018 00:23

Much university accommodation also needs guarentors or is contracted out.
There is a scheme for a company to he guarantor Housing Hand or something but it didn't make sense when we looked into it. I found that after the first year landlords were less likely to insist on guarentors. I was lucky with DD2 as the other 5 all had parents signing so landlord let DD off.

meadowmeow · 21/08/2018 00:29

This is probably going to prevent DD from doing the course of choice as it involves moving away! It never even crossed my mind

crazycatgal · 21/08/2018 00:30

My DF was my guarantor a couple of years ago with a private student housing company and wasn't credit checked or anything, he just had to sign a form. We had individual tenancy agreements so he would have only been liable for my rent payments.

Clairetree1 · 21/08/2018 00:33

Is there really no one who could act as a guarantor - I thought it just involved agreeing to pay the rent in the event that DN was unable to?

absolutely not, no.

being guarantor means UNLIMITED liability, even for damage to the house that was not done by your DN

House burns down, guarantor has to pay for a new house.

Do not ever ever agree to this, ever.

meadowmeow · 21/08/2018 00:40

House burns down, guarantor has to pay for a new house.

House insurance for that. Not guarantor.

Clairetree1 · 21/08/2018 00:44

House insurance for that. Not guarantor.

maybe, maybe not.

The insurance are not going to pay if there is a guarantor with unlimited liability.

You need to check what you are signing.

I have had horrendous cases amongst my former students, for example one house was broken into and burgled. The guarantor (dad) was taken to court for the cost of all repairs, including vandalism to the carpets, replacing windows, etc, as well as the cost of everything that was taken, it came to tens of thousands of pounds. They had the choice of remortgaging their house or selling it.

For God sake look at what you are signing.

Clairetree1 · 21/08/2018 00:47

I have 2 sons at uni and am the guarantor for both of them....im a lone parent on shit money but i own my own home which i think is the qualifying criteria

yes, because you can be forced to sell your home to cover the costs of a complete stranger in a shared house defaulting on rent, or damaging the property

katielouise3 · 21/08/2018 00:50

Agree with clairetree ^

Hell would have had to have frozen over before I would EVER have been a guarantor for ANYone - even my own kids. Purely because I could never have afforded to pay the rent if they didn't. What was the point in signing an open ended guarantor agreement, agreeing to pay non-payment of rent AND any damages etc, when we could barely make ends meet, and pay our OWN bills at the time?

What's more, all students at uni, get their 'student loan money' quarterly in advance, so there is no reason why they cannot pay the RENT quarterly in advance too.

Our kids got into halls OK, but when they had to go rent from a private landlord, we were asked to sign a guarantor agreement. We refused. As I said, we would not have been able to cough up if the kids had fallen behind on rent, or caused damage to the house.

So the landlord (on both occasions) agreed to take the rent quarterly in advance. Never had any bother with either one, and all the students got their deposits back.

It's such a scam though. Most landlords make £2-3K a month on their student rentals, and the property agents make a killing too - getting an average of £175 off each student for the 'admin fee.' If there are six to a property, that's over £1000 for just the one property. For typing up 6 tenancy agreements, and making a few phone calls.

As I said, a SCAM.

@EddyF do not sign any guarantor agreement, if you cannot comfortably afford to lose multiple 1000's of £££!

Not even for your kids.

FlappyFeet · 21/08/2018 00:51

I was guarantor for two of my DCs and simply signed a form. Both different unis and no credit checks done. Not even asked if I'm a homeowner or not.

katielouise3 · 21/08/2018 00:57

@Flappyfeet

I expect there were credit checks done, you just probably weren't aware of it. Every guarantor has a credit check. They need to know that you are going to be able to pay up if the person you are being guarantor for does not!

safariboot · 21/08/2018 01:02

Clairetree1 it seems extreme that guarantee agreements would claim the guarantor has unlimited liability for any damage, as opposed to being liable for only unpaid rate. Is that really the "industry norm" or is it something a minority of chancer landlords are trying to do?

Bluesmartiesarebest · 21/08/2018 01:03

When I realised that I was being asked to be guarantor for everyone sharing the house I refused to sign. I think one of my DCs offered a larger deposit instead and another had to ask the uni to get involved.

LellyMcKelly · 21/08/2018 01:04

Make sure she is on the waiting list for halls and get her to explain her situation to her Student Office/Hub/Welfare team. 5-10% drop out before they even get there and the situation changes daily for the first two weeks after term starts.

katielouise3 · 21/08/2018 01:05

@safariboot Trust me, Clairetree is not exaggerating.

katielouise3 · 21/08/2018 01:06

I mean, I guess there are some that can say only YOUR child's rent (or damage that they do) is included in what yo have to pay, but they will probably find some way to milk 1000s out of you.

yaskween · 21/08/2018 01:19

I used to work in student housing, this is pretty standard but some LL or letting agents will allow students without guarantors to rent if they can pay 6 months rent up front. There are some companies that will offer to act as a guarantor for around £250, however check with the LL or agency first, as some won't accept this. Some nicer landlords may be willing to just take a higher deposit (say 8 weeks rent) but this isn't that common.

It would also be worth your niece speaking to the Uni accommodation team as they may have a university guarantor scheme, where the Uni will basically be your guarantor, and she should find out how their waitlist works (and clarify if the Uni requires a guarantor for their accommodation too)
Worst case scenario, a lot of universities get first year students dropping out within the first 4 weeks so she could potentially look at a short term option like Air b'n'b for her first month or so and hope to get offered someone from the waitlist.

Notveryadventurousname · 21/08/2018 05:49

My DD has just graduated. She was in private halls for the first year (cheaper than the uni halls in that particular city) and 4 person private rented house for the following two years. All around £100 per week with 10 month rental contact requiring guarantor....both for her rent in halls (£5,000) and shared liability (£20,000) in shared house. I am LP earning around £30,000 and have younger children too, own home but with mortgage.

I signed as guarantor for all and was told no credit checks would take place, presume just the liability of me signing and being in employment and own home was sufficient. I had some sleepless nights over this to start with, especially over the shared liability one but know many other parents at work in same position so sometimes we would chat about it and worry together which made it seem more normal. Agency said if anyone defaulted they would pursue them and their parents first, then the others until they got payment. I just had to hope it wouldn't come to that and I worried less as time passed and they all stuck together and signed again for the same house the following year. If I hadn't signed, she couldn't have gone to uni and it had been quite a struggle to get there....I'm sure some don't because of this.

I think the shared liability thing should be looked at by the government as a block to equality of access. Landlords where my DD went to uni make roughly 3 times more from renting a house to to students than they would renting the house out as a whole. DD's house would have rented for about £700pcm as a whole house, but with four students in, the landlord was getting just over £2000 pcm. Accept are higher costs renting out as an HMO, but surely this almost tripling of the standard rent (and the fact they get rent a term in advance anyway), should give the landlord the buffer against loss of rent or fund insurance against defaults and void periods. Or at least allow a guarantor to just guarantee their own child.

Slartybartfast · 21/08/2018 05:51

More than one person can be a guarantee, in my experience, as long as the total amokunt is more than £25,000

Slartybartfast · 21/08/2018 05:52

i.e for my dd 3 members of our family were her guarantors

Notveryadventurousname · 21/08/2018 06:01

Would also point out that someone may need to help your niece out with the advance rent for the first term. It will be due before the grant arrives and needs to be paid upfront or possibly on a credit card. Once the grant arrives you can in theory repay it but you will find the Spring term's rent is due out if that same money (as it will be due in advance too). You think you will catch up inthe last term of the tenancy... but as you are booking and paying for the following year by then, you don't really get straight until the final term of the whole three or four years.

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