£75k salary, landlord wants parents as guarantors

[Sadleaver]

I'm 35, earn £75k a year in a stable industry, as a permanent member of staff. I've been renting for 12 years and have glowing past landlord references. Excellent credit score.

Just agreed a new tenancy on a flat after a stressful 6 week hunt. It's £1250pm. Passed all the reference checks. And the letting agent is now asking for my PARENTS to be guarantors! I have to provide evidence of their income and it has to be above a certain amount. I'm honestly done with this bullshit. This is insane right?

That is ridiculous?!

Yep, that's pretty wild

Sounds insane to me with that salary! Sadly in this crazy market landlords can basically ask for the moon on a stick and someone will find it for them 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️😪

That's ridiculous.

Tell them you don't have parents but you've manged so far in your own salary!

Barmy. Absolutely barmy.

Has the landlord mixed up your application with someone else's? Both my parents are retired, they couldn't afford to pay rent!

Absolutely insane

Totally ridiculous. You earn plenty for a rent of that size. Plus you have a 12 year history. What if your parents had passed away?

Yeah the letting agent has said 'in the current climate we're asking new tenants to provide guarantors, preferably your parents.' I also wonder if it's because I'm single?

Ask them if they accidentally sent you an email they meant to send to a university student?

That's utterly mad.

Cousin’s a cardiologist on £100k+ and he was also asked for a guarantor. He has the savings so got around it by offering the first 6 mths rent in advance - maybe you could do similar?

Exactly @Wishitsnows. I don't have much of a relationship with my dad, he lives in the US, and my mum has a disability and only works part time. They're asking for the guarantors to have a monthly income of £2k so they could cover the cost of the rent in case I can't! Urgh.

We earn over 100k together and have just been through this with a rental. We put my brother in law down as guarantor. I just assumed it is standard work for the agency and it doesn’t depend on salary - one size fits all kind of thing. My BIL was laughing about it.

That's a fucking joke.

OMG! You're 35 FFS! Madness!!!

We were asked for similar in 2017 when had moved city and were renting. There was zero consideration that the rent was such a low % of our salaries.

It wasn't appropriate for us to get a guarantor due to family circumstance so we paid 6 months rent up front. Obviously not possible for everyone but given your salary is that an option?

Can you ask in return for a check that the landlord’s mum can cover any repairs that the landlord can’t stretch to?

Seriously mental.
When dd was 19 and rented a house with her boyfriend, one agency wanted me to be a guarantor. I simply refused. Next place were perfectly happy, they had good credit ref and earned enough to pat for it!

Oh it's utterly ridiculous isn't it?
We sold our house to live into a rental before we relocate next year.
We showed £300k in savings (from the house sale) and were told it doesn't count because it hasn't been in my account for 3 months. We also had £30k savings, and they wouldn't include that as it was in a fixed savings account that I need to give 1 month notice for.
It was the most awful experience.

Haha brilliant! Definitely do this!

That is utterly ridiculous. Can you consider buying somewhere small instead? On that salary you should get a reasonable mortgage.

That’s fucking insane!

Brilliant. And tempting. DS is paying a bloody fortune for a flat that hasn't had overhead lighting since he moved in 9 months ago!

Most Landlords can get insurance/guarantees from the referencing company where you have passed the company’s referencing in order to cover loss of rent or evictions etc. Asking someone who passed referencing to provide a guarantor is ludicrous! Though I guess they can ask for whatever they want. I think it sets the tone for what they are going to be like generally as a landlord (a nightmare).