Horrified at how many parents guarantee rental agreements without reading

[PinkDino33]

This might sound brutal but I am regularly horrified on Mumsnet when I read posts from parents desperately seeking advice because things have gone terribly wrong with the property their child has rented, and they are shocked to discover the full extent of what they and their child are liable for.

Their DS has just found out their flatmate hasn't paid a single month of rent in the 12 months they've lived there.. Does he really have to pay what the other boy owes?

The DD's flatmate is making life hell and her and all the other flatmates want to move out and stop paying... surely this is allowed?

The DS signed up to a house with his friends but now he wants to move back home.. Does he really have to honour this contract and pay the rent for a whole year?!

It's like parents don't really think of a tenancy agreement / guaranteeing a tenancy as being a real contract, and don't know anything about what they've signed.

Is it a joint tenancy agreement? "No idea"
Can you give notice or is it for a fixed period like 12 months? "Don't know"
"I'm going to have a proper read of the contract tonight.."

It's no good properly reading it 6 months after you've signed it!

People seem to think the contract / how it works with the Landlord must be based on fairness.. It's not fair that their child is financially liable because another tenant hasn't paid, so the landlord can't possibly have the right to try and get the money from him. It can't possibly be the case that they've guaranteed the full rent amount and not just their child's - because that would be madness!

Say it's a 6 person property on a 12 month joint agreement with each person paying £750pm.. that's a total rent of £54,000 that you are guaranteeing!!

I say this, not to shame parents but because if there was more awareness of what parents are actually signing this would cease to be the norm amongst estate agents and landlords. You've got tens of thousands of parents every year signing up to these things which no one in their right mind would sign if they actually read and understood the thing!

It's horrible when these things go wrong and you're living with someone who's a nightmare or doesn't pay, so I do sympathise. But if your child is signing up to a tenancy agreement (especially if its a joint agreement and you need to guarantee it!) ask questions, READ the contract, look up terms like 'joint tenancy' online, ask for proper legal advice if you don't understand anything.

I know of a company that you make a monthly payment to and they can be your guarantor. I've had no dealings with them myself so can't vouch for them but thought some of you might find it useful to know they exist: https://housinghand.co.uk/

It’s good to be aware but the reality of the situation is that many private rentals become available in November and even October of the year prior. So your student may well be only in Uni for two months, still finding their feet when they have to find a group and go find a house for their second year. Then it’s a mad scamble to get the house, give details to landlord/letting agent, get everyone’s deposits - often to a very tight schedule and then lease signed.

And obviously, it can be worrying signing a lease where you guarantor the rent for the entire house - but remember so do the other parents in the house and chances are if one person moves out/late paying rent - the parent/guarantor of that students is followed up first and if no success on to the group. So you won’t be responsible for the entire amount. And what usually happens is that the house will find a replacement tenant, especially in the first few months.

What do you suggest then if your child needs somewhere to live and those are the o my terns available?

And there are companies will will be the guarantor for a monthly fee.

There are loads and loads of things in standard tenancy agreements that aren’t legally enforceable (my qualification being 25 years in housing sector)

Plus who even has a cheque book?!

We knew the risks but didn't have much choice to be honest
Thankfully it was ok

based on my post from last night I assume. You don’t get a choice when students are renting. You have to be a guarantor or they don’t get a property. Students can be unreliable and leave uni half way through their course, the landlord obviously needs to know they’ll get their money. My DH did all of the contract stuff but as he’s dealing with something at the moment I’m trying not to bother him too much and I’m trying to help DD and her friends navigate this tricky step myself. I don’t have all the answers, I don’t know everything and I have things to learn.

Exactly!! My dd didn’t have other options once she left halls!

What choice do we have? I was shocked it had to be done as I couldn’t possibly meet any shortfalls. Luckily their dad (ex) stepped up and signed for both of ours. Both knew exactly what that meant, so thankfully there were no issues with eldest and hopefully none with youngest who, starts a new rental off campus later this year.

I don’t want to upset you further but as you’ve asked, yes, your post is one of the examples on here I’m talking about.

There are other choices.

And even if there weren’t my post is about people being aware of what they and their children is signing. I want signing without understanding their liability to stop being the norm.

I think most people do know the risks, but feel they have no alternative. It's also tough on students who's parents aren't homeowners or are low earners as they won't be accepted as guarantor. You can pay for a commercial guarantor, but that's extra expenses.

This has been my youngest’s experience. He started late last September and before Christmas they already had a place secured because it’s a scramble for properties where he is, (closer to London). My other son had a more leisurely time to find somewhere as it’s more relaxed area.

Where my eldest rented they were individually responsible for paying their rent and it included bills but where my youngest will be one person pays it and bills aren’t included, and that does worry me. My son is very honest but who knows what the other five will be like. I’m hoping he might decide to go back on campus in his third year.

I was asked to be a guarantor but only for my daughter. Everyone else in her student accommodation had their own guarantors.

Same goes for the rental property she's sharing with her boyfriend now.

I'm glad son no 2 is going back into private halls next year for many reasons. Son no.1 was on placement in Oxford so he signed up with Only My Share to cover any issues with flatmate.

I agree it is a problem OP. But there isn't much you can do about it. Dd moved unis, away from a uni where the student housing stock is v limited and v expensive and always shared liability. We agreed that I would take the risk for 2nd year as no other options, but 3rd yr she would go back to halls. Luckily she has moved to a city where you can individually rent a room in student accommodation. She's in her 3rd year of uni now and my eyes will be wide open if/when ds goes. Accommodation will be a massive consideration when he closes where he wants to go because I am not doing it again.

They cannot pay voluntarily before signing the agreement. The law is changing.

The issue is how quickly they are forced to find friends to live with. Hopefully the new renters bills may slow this down, but currently for the lots of the unis you have to have sorted your second year house before Xmas of the first term. By that point it's often people you know more than friends.

Also lots of unis only have halls for first years do you have very little choice.

The other issue is the shortage of housing, sometimes upto ten groups of people looking at the property on the same day. So it's not always easy to even find a house.

My dd and friends had to write a letter as to why they should be picked over other groups. Whole thing is madness.

We tried to push back but with no success at all. In our case it's a smallish city and the university has a housing service which connects students with private landlords and offers a level of assurance on quality (no dodgy landlords), but this is the standard lease for these properties. The choice was go for this or chance something else with a landlord will to offer a different lease that in a small university city had reasons for not wanting to be with the housing service - whether because they actively didn't want students or didn't like the idea of the scrutiny involved. We were of course offered all the reassurances of it being very unlikely, all efforts made, other parents sharing liability etc. But at the end of the day we had very little choice.

My yp has secured a house with two of her flatmates she has lives with this year, and her guarantor contract was just about her rent. I feel very relieved about this

To be clear, my AIBU is: that "if your child is signing up to a tenancy agreement (especially if its a joint agreement and you need to guarantee it!) ask questions, READ the contract, look up terms like 'joint tenancy' online, ask for proper legal advice if you don't understand anything."

I don't believe there's any excuse to at least not read or be aware of what you're signing.

If you are seriously saying 'Well our child was desperate to get this flat with their friends and we were put under pressure so we were willing to sign absolutely anything the estate agent put in front of us and therefore didn't even bother to read it.' Then that's just ridiculous.

If you read it and were very aware of what you were signing but felt you had to take the risk regardless, then you are not who my post is about!

But if the contract is joint and several (and they almost all are, because LLs don't want to run HMOs) then if any other tenant defaults, your daughter is jointly and severally liable for the outstanding rent, and as you are guarantor for her, so are you by default.

Even if every tenant has a guarantor, if there's joint and several liability, then every guarantor can be chased for every tenant's liability.

All the student tenancies I've looked at were joint and several, and not HMOs, and that's standard practice as far as I'm aware.

Like I said with student letting you have to be a guarantor. If you don’t sign they have nowhere to live. What would you do exactly? Let me know what the other choices are that hoards of parents of university students are obviously missing. My DH most likely knew exactly what he was signing however there was no choice. When they signed the contract it was based on 5 girls who knew each other well. One sadly dropped out, through no fault of her own and this current girl was given the room. As parents we did not sign further with this girls name.

I think this catches a lot of people out and even confuses some Estate Agents.

My mum once guaranteed a joint tenancy agreement on my behalf for a flat with me and 2 others. She was a solicitor and knew from the wording of the contract that she could potentially be chased for other tenant's share of the rent (for the reasons you outline above). However she asked the estate agent to clarify this, in writing, and the estate agent wrongly assured her she was guaranteeing my share of the rent only. She knew this was incorrect advice but felt it would allow her to challenge it in court if it came to it.

I would read and understand the terms of the contract. If I didn't understand anything in there I would seek advice before signing.

I can understand the posters on here who felt they had limited options and decided they needed to sign, despite knowing the risks. But as I said, that is never an excuse for not being clear on the terms of the contract and the risk you are taking.