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.

The only year we had to give a guarantee that required us to guarantee the obligations of all the tenants I took out insurance which covered me if the landlord came after me for the rent of any tenant other than my DC's share.

I think there is guarantor’s insurance for student guarantors

I’ve not had to take it as I
am only guaranteeing Dd’s rent but would consider it otherwise.

People really do need to read these contracts and ensure their Dc read them too so they know exactly what they (parents) will be liable for.

I paid for costs to make good damage caused by sticking posters on wall when Dd was in second year.

Told her if there was similar in new third year house she would foot the bill herself.

Cross posted with yours!

Having to do it before Christmas is ridiculous, you've only known people a few months if that. I was pressured into doing it in January and between then and the end of the year I hated uni and didn't want to live with those people any more, it's such a new way of life your feelings can change over those few months

I didn't sign as I couldn't afford to cover it had it needed paying. I would never sign for something I couldn't afford. I would lose the roof over my other kid's heads.
It did limit DC options in one case but we found a way around it. Many landlords are happy if there are a few who sign and one doesn't.

If people stopped signing things might change.

I was guarantor for DS1 on 2 different flats. Both contracts were for separate leases for each tenant so I was only guaranteeing DS1 share! I had no idea that this was mot the norm but we’re in Scotland so may be different here?

I had to be guarantor even after DD graduated and was working full time. The rental market is so difficult these days.

On threads where posters say "just throw them out" about difficult teenagers it is clear that they have no idea what the current state of the rental market is like.

As guarantor the agent/landlord requires very detailed information these days.

You can pay insurance to avoid being liable. I see people say that on the WIWIKAU group. My son went into private halls in year 2 and 3 which was good as it’s an individual contract.

Ive rented for 18 years now (20’s-40’s) and I still get asked for a guarantor as we struggle to pass affordability, despite having never missed a payment.

The @fluffyblanky comment is ridiculous. Like @Krop and @IhaveanewTVnow my ds1 similarly looked almost immediately at arriving at Notts Uni, pre Christmas, whilst still in halls, with friends he barely knew (who turned out to be lovely. But that's not really the point is it?) so didn't leave it late at all.

Yes, DD started looking before Christmas - the only things that were available were single rooms in daggy houses, most of which were only available to post grad students or wanted someone to move in straight away. There have been literally no student houses at all until about a month ago, and then it's a bun fight to see one first and secure it!

Not necessarily. DD started looking in November, has only just signed on somewhere for third year. Busy city with not enough housing. If you email 10 minutes after someone else has, the house has gone. It's a mad scramble for housing.

It's also down to A, the other students getting their arse in gear and signing the forms, and B, the other students parents/guarantors getting their arse in gear and signing the forms. As parents, we're on the ball, but unfortunately not everyone else is.

I'd add that if our experience is anything to go by, some parents are simply getting a text from their child saying 'you need to be my guarantor for my house next year, you'll get an email' and that's the first they hear of it. So to refuse to sign at that point, when the house is found, the housemates agreed, the contracts signed by them, is obviously not an impossibility but adds substantially to the pressure of it all. Even if, as so many of us are saying, there was any easily available alternative.

Yes that’s the situation we were in.

That was exactly the text that I got 😂
Told Dd I needed to read the contract and that she needed to read and understand it too and urge intended house mates to do same. Think she probably ignored the last bit!

The estate agents probably just explain it as part of the process like signing the tenancy.
“just get your parents to sign the guarantee” without any explanation of what it is, just a piece of paper

Exactly. And given the lack of alternative it pretty much is. We did call and push back but got nowhere as I've said, but we did get all sorts of reassurances about why it would never happen (that we took with a sigh and a pinch of salt).

It will never happen.

until it does

But as I say as a long term renter. I get it. There is no alternative

It's all such a nonsense too given how many parents signing these contracts actually aren't in a financial position to guarantee. There's very little scrutiny of that, if any. If I were a landlord I'd rather ask for individual guarantees that I might actually get rather than the current approach which, in the event of you actually trying to enforce it, may well get you into nothing but a protracted legal wrangle.

My real world experience comes from being a student myself at several points in my life (including within the last 10 years) and facing this exact issue and navigating it with my parents.

In addition to that I have siblings who are currently at University / about to go and who are navigating this with my parents.

All in different cities.

Ultimately my AIBU was related to reading and taking the time to understand / research what you are signing to understand your liability, not whether or not its wrong to be a guarantor fullstop.

No matter what the competition for accommodation / how pressured you feel you should always read and take the time to understand the implications of what you're signing. I stand by that.

And it's not about 'winning'. It's not a win for me for anyone to miss out on a home with their friends. It's about safeguarding my family's finances. The only win would be if landlords and estate agents stop requiring this as it acts as a huge barrier for so many young people.

And just how do you propose Landlords deal with 1 tenant of say 4 in a household that isn't paying- when legally the landlord can't ask that 1 tenant to move out? If a group wants to sign as a group, they are signing up to a group responsibility. If you don't want this, find somewhere else to live. But don't make this a 'landlord and real estate agent' problem.

It's not 'landlords and estate agents' the law is also very much tightly bound to tenants rights.

So, more apt is the question 'who is driving this type of contract?'. Landlords could offer a let on a room by room basis, then they have more costs associated with this and would therefore charge more. The costs just aren't driven by 'paperwork', there are also more requests to deal with, more requirements from councils etc etc

Thank you.

As I've said before on this thread 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."

A lot of people on here are trying to argue with me over something different ie. that housing options are limited therefore they have to be guarantors, whether they like it or not.

If you read and knew the implications of the contract but felt you had to sign then I am not talking about you!

I lived in several houses where we were all on individual contracts for our rooms and that worked much better, in my opinion.

If the costs needed to be higher to have the limited liability that comes with that I think that's reasonable.

I think guarantors should no longer be a regular requirement for rental properties and I hope the government puts something in place to stop that.

I would have less concerns / issues about joint tenancies if there weren't guarantors.

I am not a LL but my DP is and we practice what we preach and did not request guarantors for the tenants in that property.