To not want parents as guarantors

[Ella1980]

Long story short, my finance and I have found a house we'd like to rent. We've been renting five years but wanting to move from two to three bed as I have two sons age 9 and 11.

I'm a teacher but have been poorly so not in work. Currently looking to return asap either as teacher or TA. My fiance works ft in social care. I have considerable savings from my divorce as ex had to buy me out of marital 5 bed exec home. Savings have not been touched, we have been managing on one salary for 4 months so far.

Bizarrely enough, landlord knows my parents who are now both retired. We have paid deposit on new rental. However, landlord is now saying she wants my parents to act as guarantors. AIBU to be fuming?!!

Mum says just to agree but it's the principal. She says she can see it from landlord's pov because, despite the fact we're getting married next year, we "might split up".

I'm a 38 yo independent divorcee ffs not a child but from my pov I'm being made to feel like one!

Thank you so much for your advice all x

Don't take it so personally, the landlord just wants to protect his income. Why don't you use your substantial capital to buy a house for you and your sons instead of paying for somebody else to buy a house?

You need to think rationally. It's totally normal now to need guarantors so take out the fact he said 'your parents' and instead think 'guarantors'.

I rented a couple of years ago in between buying (sold one house, bought another). I paid cash for the whole six month rental of £25,000 but we still had to earn greater than £70k a year or we would need guarantors.

His caution (though ludicrous) is not personal

If you are unhappy about the landlord seeking a guarantor, then keep looking until you find a property with one who doesn't.

I thought you had to be earning to be a guarantor? Sure that's what my last letting agent said, something about plus £30k pa too?

So if he didn't know your parents, he wouldn't have asked for a guarantor? Presumably not, as you'd already paid the deposit on the basis that you didn't have one?

And my savings are waaaaaaaaaay in excess of my parents savings and/or a 12 month rental!

I would buy rather than pay LL mortgage.

What is a guarantor?

If a tenant is not fully approved by the referencing process, they can ask a guarantor to support them. A guarantor (usually a parent or guardian) will agree to take joint responsibility for the rent for the property if the tenant fails to. Guarantors are required to pay any rent arrears (if the tenant does not pay) and for any damages costing more than the deposit.

What does a guarantor need to do?

A guarantor needs to go through the same referencing process as a tenant. The normal requirement is that they are employed and a UK resident, with sufficient earnings to cover the tenant’s rental commitment.

Yes, she called my mum the other day to ask re my "relationship stability" which made me cross. I found it somewhat insulting tbh!

I've been in a similar position. I told landlord to shove the house in the end...
I was made to feel like an incompetent fool and the landlord even asked to visit my parents at home himself to get their necessary details. Cheeky git.

Wouldn't you be better using your savings as a deposit & paying a mortgage rather than rent

Can't buy until I am back in work.

Missing the point but why have you been renting for so long when you have ‘considerable savings’ and both working full time until recently.

Offer to pay for 6 /12 months in advance.
This worked for us when my husband had been in his job for less than required time.
We had just sold our house so had a substantial bank balance but that didn't seem to count.
Once we offered the upfront payment all the questions and hurdles seemed to melt away. Funny that!
Was an easy solution, just sent the rent over to the savings every month.

Lone parent for three years until I met partner two years ago. Working pt until about two years ago.

You could maybe offer to pay the 12 months rent up front instead. My mum acted as guarantor on a car when we moved back from the USA, she was on disability payments and my DH was earning in excess of £60k, was madness. We paid 6 months rent up front or would have needed a guarantor for that as well.

Not being funny OP but last week you said you got a tiny settlement from your divorce, and you've no savings at all. Perhaps the landlord is concerned about your financial security, if things are changing so quickly?

I was asked for a guarantor a few years back by a letting agency.

I was about 36 with 40k in the bank being between houses. I said no way and was ready to walk away. In the end they said it was fine. They just wanted a bigger deposit. I would have been equally happy to pay 6 months rent up front.

I don’t blame you for not wanting to get one. I was an independent working woman. I was not about to ask my retired mum to be a guarantor!

I think you LL is unfair to ask now when it was not made clear at the outset.

Sidetracking but l paid cash for the whole six month rental of £25,000 have l picked it up wrong Laurie 6 months rent was £25k?!

@Tomtontom

It was tiny considering he remains in the five-bed four bathroom marital home while we have remained in a damp rented two-bed for five years! Not enough to buy a bigger house in the location we live in currently.

Usually the point of the guarantor is that they own their own home, which is an asset againstvwhich it is very easy to enforce. In theory it would be quite easy for tenants to get themselves into a position of owing a five-figure sum of money to the landlord. That could easily be run up from unpaid rent over the time it takes to evict, legal costs, and damage that might be done to the premises. It's quite easy for the landlord to get an award for costs and damages against the tenant from the court. But as in most litigation it's often very hard to enforce the judgment. The tenant will have moved away, might be hard to track down, and it's very hard for the landlord to establish that there are savings in the bank and to get an order for the bank to pay them over.

The guarantor is jointly liable with the tenant. So the landlord can chase the guarantor instead. And if they own their own house they can't really hide it anywhere, and the landlord can get a charging order against the house, which means that the debt will almost certainly be paid.

@FiddlesticksAkimbo

I understand that, but we've been renting for five years without default so I'd say that's somewhat unlikely! Also my savings are more than 12 months' rent and my fiance works ft so why do we even need guarantors in the first place?

If you’ve got so many savings ask if you can pay six months in advance

Either rent in advance, or better still a very substantial deposit. If the landlord knows that any likely liability is covered by your deposit then there's no reason for a guarantor.

I would take this as a sign that the landlord is a nosy bugger and would probably be overstepping boundaries, reporting back on you to your parents etc. Ringing your mum to quiz about your relationship is beyond the pale! What business is it of theirs!
I would ask for my deposit back and look for somewhere else. They have tried to change terms of agreement so anything you had agreed to would be invalid.