£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?

Sounds insane but when I did DDs accommodation for Uni they stated guarantors had to earn 32 times the rent.

Fuck this kind of shit. Outrageous
Tell them your parents are dead. See what they say.

Yep just happened with me. DH and I earn £120k combined and renting property £1200. Had to give my Dad as guarantor. Never had that before and rented a number of properties.

They’ll be asking you to take a colonoscopy next 🤔

I also got around this by paying 6 months rent upfront and everything was fine didn't need a guarantor after that was in thay house almost 10 years till the landlord got ill and decided to sell

As a parent I wouldn’t do this. Only whilst they’re at Uni.
It’s completely unreasonable.
What happens to people that don’t have parents or they are retired.

I would, but they asked in the background checks for a next of kin contact, and I put my mum's name, and had to state her relationship to me 😅

If there is a shortage of properties and as long as it's legal there is no downside for the landlord doing this.

Also, if you are 100% sure you won't default then there is no risk to anyone acting as a guarantor.

I have way more of a problem with being asked to be a guarantor for my kids shared student accommodation. I only agreed if it was in the contract that I would only be responsible for my own child's portion of the rent despite the tendencies being normal joint tenancies (where each tenent is jointly and severally liable for the rent etc)

We are retired so couldn't anyway

I dare you to do it!!

This is total batshit bonkers!

Seriously, has the rental market come to this now?!

I have no words....

@Doggymummar
I worked in Brighton, my nephew lives there. There are shared ownership in Shoreham on sea. Would that be an option? At least you own 50%+ and can build equity.

This should not be allowed. It’s discriminatory against immigrants to ask for parents (in the U.K.) or a “U.K. homeowner” to be a guarantor to be able to rent a home. And direct discrimination against immigrants is indirect discrimination against ethnic minority groups.

Laugh in their face and tell them you're going to take your extremely stable income and impeccable tenant history elsewhere!

That’s ridiculous. Do you have enough savings to pay up front? My last two tenants have paid 6 and 12 months upfront as the competition was fierce.

I wonder if you could speak to the owner of the property directly, I wonder if he or she knows about this stupidity?

This. ^ When my best friend's (BF) daughter was at uni -12-13 years ago, she needed guarantors for the student house, (for year 2, she had her first year in Halls,) and my BF wouldn't do it. Because she couldn't. She was in a precarious position financially after the credit crunch, as her DH had lost his fairly well-paid job he had had for 2 decades, and had to take a lower paid one (40% less pay.) They had about £30K of debt at the time, and struggled to make ends meet.

They said no - sorry but no. The LL is going to have to trust you to pay the rent. The other 4 people in the house (her 4 mates from uni) all had their parents be guarantors. All had quite well-off parents. On much more money than my BF- and her DH... (some £80K - £90K joint income, compared to my friend and her DH who had £25K between them.)

The other parents owned land/farms/businesses/villa in Spain/small private yacht etc, and they were happy and able to be guarantors. BF couldn't. The LL was OK to let her DD be the 5th tenant without a guarantor as she was happy with 4 out of 5, and the 5 girls were firm friends and the other 4 wouldn't move in without the 5th girl. (BF DD.)

Turns out it was a wise decision as my BF's DD pissed about with her money. Got bursaries and extra monies as her parents were on low money, and spent the whole term's money in 6 weeks. By 5 months in she had only paid 2 months rent. The landlord was patient and tolerant, and waited for her to catch up - which she did. She was straight by 8 months...

But if my friend had been a guarantor, the landlord would possibly have chased her for the £1125 rent owed. (3 months.) She was on the bones of her arse at the time, and already struggling to pay mortgage, loans, overdraft fees, bills etc, and had more outgoings than income... And debt collectors chasing her for £1125 would have finished her off.

Unless you have multiple 10s of 1000s surplus income, it's incredibly foolish to be a guarantor.

It can be quicker and easier to use Section 21 for someone who has stopped paying rent. That’s why the implications haven’t been thought through. If someone doesn’t pay rent it costs the landlord and can take months, through a more difficult process.

Its probably just another scheme the Letting Agent has cooked up so they can charge yet another fee for something.. We noticed ours started adding inspections (4 per year) as soon as the law changed so they couldn't sting tenants anymore. They milking the landlord instead.

Probably an admin error by a numpty at the agents. I'd discuss it with the owner of the property.

That’s ridiculous- I have landlord insurance for a house where the rent is over £5k a month. Total premium for a year’s cover including cover for legal proceedings and missed rental payments for up to a year: £150.

Me too!
Some posters are saying 'My parents are dead and I don't have any aunties or uncles to ask'.
If a niece or nephew came to me asking if I'd guarantor their mortgage, my response would be 'HELL no!'

Please write to your MP?

Essentially your first post, and ask them to review tenant's rights.

If this becomes widespread I'm sure there will be lots of insurance type companies popping up to offer guarantor services for a price so adults don't have to bother parents and other relatives. It will be another cost for renting.