Rent guarantor for adult child.

[ThatSchoolOfficeLady]

I absolutely don't mind doing this, but the number of documents and the level of detail they require is bonkers. Bank statements, pay slips, driving licence, my employment and HR details and council tax bills. I really hope their website is secure and they delete my docs at the end of the process. Anyone else had this thought in my situation?

Yes, I had to do this when dd did a postgrad year in London. It was really funny though as I work for my dad and so when they contacted him as my employer he got me to reply to them as I am the one who runs payroll for the entire company!

re the insurance. I took out a policy with Only My Share. It won't cover you for the whole amount should every single housemate in a houseshare default but it would cover the most likely scenario of one housemate defaulting part way through the tenancy.

It cost £99 and covered up to £10,000 per year. https://knowledge.housinghand.co.uk/what-does-the-cover-include

They either have to stay in private halls who don't require this info or use a Guarantor company such as Housing Hands. I know a few students for whom this has been an issue eg a single parent not earning enough and a father who now lives abroad.

We had to guarantee DD's Uni house but just provided ID.
Funnily enough I deal with Lettings Contracts for work and I have spotted that the Agent has ballsed up and we probably couldn't be held liable but never mind, not my job to tell them.

Thanks, I'll look that up. I'm also trying to get home contents insurance for dc, renting a shared flat with others. The insurance policies I've seen seem to only cover if there's a lock on the bedroom door, but dc doesn't have this.

Dd was insured with Urban Jungle. They specialise in students and house shares

I sold my flat, have £400k in the bank ( from sale proceeds) earn 6 figures and had to provide bank statements, contract of employment, both written and oral confirmation of my salary and role from my employers and about 4 pieces of ID (we moved into a rental for 6 months).

I provide less to a mortgage advisor. It felt extremely intrusive.

Yes this. The level of info they have about me now, stealing my house or identity would be a doddle. It's really unsettling.

NEVER do this.

You have no idea what could happen in the future.

Fall out with your child.

They throw a party and the place gets smashed up.

The LL decides that YOU, the "rich" parent, will pay for anything they deem W&T at the end of the tenancy.

Your kid meets someone and decides they want to move in with them half way through the lease.

Being a Guarantor just meany YOU are renting the property. Whether or not your kid ever pays any rent is irrelevant to the landlord. YOU are the one who owes the money.

It’s absolutely crazy. I’m currently renting post divorce - even with a good income, credit score and considerable amount of equity from the house sale I still had to get a guarantor who specifically earns more than £40k per year. Most of my friends are nurses and earn nowhere near that! DD is 20 so I still have all of this to look forward to when she moves out 🙃

I have never asked for a guarantor in the past because I knew that if a tenant refused to pay rent for any reason I could always issue a section 21. I've never had to go that in 19 years of being a LL but it was like insurance. However with Renters Right Bill coming into place I think I'm going to need to ask for a guarantor in the future. Not for my current tenants because I trust them. One current tenant lost their job about 4 years ago but immediately told me and asked if they could pay lower rent until he got a new job then catch it up which I was happy to agree. 7 months later he'd got a new job and completely caught up his missing rent. He's never missed any other payments but with any potential new tenants in the future I think I should. I know it makes business sense. I kind of feel uneasy though because 1. I know not all perfectly good tenants have a guarantor and 2. I don't think I'd feel comfortable chasing a third party for missing rent because they would never have lived there.

If I couldn't act as guarantor for DD she would have had nowhere to live for the last two years of her degree. There aren't enough halls where she was at university for her to stay in halls.

We don't all have feckless DC.

It's a room In a shared house of working adults in their 30s. Parties won't be a thing. Having said that I did it for my son when he was at uni because I'm his mum!

So what do you do for your DC?

@kirinm I know how you feel - we have rented lovely houses for 22 years, gave great references, have a consistent business - pay what would be equivalent of a big mortgage and are early 60s - we've turned down 2 houses about 3 years ago where they asked us for a guarantor - I'm not sure who we are expected to use when you get to that age!!

We paid a year up front for our DD

I did this recently for my son. I think letting agents (otherwise known as pond life😊) seem to think that loading up with on line forms, etc, somehow eliminates risk. In my son’s case I had to fill out two, more or less similar forms, AND have my signature witnessed (this was an on line form, so the idea of witnessing an on line signature is unbelievably stupid. )
The EAs, witless as they are, hadn’t a clue how the guaranteeing system even worked, so that was fun…
Not helped by the fact that I was on holiday 6000 mi away , also fun…

I was well aware of the implications of being a guarantor with a joint and several liability . However when DD was a student in London, she would have not been able to get a tenancy without us signing this type of guarantor agreement. Rental property is so hard to find that landlords have you over a barrel.
We just had to hope for the best and sign. We did take out insurance from Guarantor Insure which should pay out if one of the other students in the flat doesn't pay their share of the rent.

This thread should be read by every poster who urges the parents of difficult teenagers to kick them out. The "I left home at 16" posts are just so irrelevant now.

They clearly have absolutely no idea about the rental market these days.

It’s worth mentioning that Guarantor Insure only cover houses where everyone is a student (my dd was sharing with non students so we went for Only My Share instead ) & they have current suspended taking on any new policies.

Yes, I found out @Comefromaway when DD rented with friends after graduating. Luckily, there were no issues.