Worried about being a guarantor for university rental accommodation

[bellybabe0]

DD is looking at renting a shared house with friends for the second and third year of university. I am worried about being a guarantor as I do not have the financial security to deal with any large bills that might incur.

Does anyone know a way around acting as a guarantor? Or an insurance policy I can take it out in case there is a problem with her rent?

I am also concerned about the personal financial risk I might be exposed to where there is a shared tenancy. All advice will come on this as well. I need to find a solution so my daughter can stay at university - I am worried that I’m going to let her down.

Just bumping for you as our DS is due to go in September and I'd like to know how this works as well.

I’m no help as my daughters dad acted as guarantor, but I appreciate your worry.

Is your daughter sensible? They all made sure direct debits were set up, and they all agreed beforehand how the bills would work.

There may be some good information on Save The Student

I only had to guarantor my dds, not the other tenants and as I trusted her to pay the rent there were no problems

If I can just be a guarantor for her that would be a lot less worrying, esp of she fully gets her financial planning under control (its a bit variable atm). I’ll look into negotiating for guarantor-ship just for her as a possible option.

You’re only the guarantor for your dc, they each have an individual contract. There are companies that will do it for you, I don’t know much about it, but one of Dss housemates tried to use one, but they had problems with Landlords agreeing to it, eventually one of the other parents acted as guarantor.

That’s interesting thank you. I spoke to one of the companies that offer guarantor-ships for students, and they said that the student and cosigner are responsible for any default payments, the default debt is paid by them and then they set up a payment plan for you to pay them back which would be just as unmanageable for me as unpaid rent. I was hoping there was a full insurance scheme someone knows of, maybe I’m being too optimistic! I’ll make sure the tenancy is individual rather than joint as that increases risk as far as I can tell.

Just doing this for my ds for his second year next year, we all seem to be just guaranteeing our own child though ( he is sharing with 5 others) each one of them has to provide there own guarantor

We've just signed to be guarantor for my dd in the student house she will be sharing with 4 others. We are only guaranteeing her share of the rent. Apparently, this is the most common contract set up for student houses where she is at uni.

Hiya, I work for a university and was previously a student myself and the only way around this would be guarantor for her share. No insurance schemes as far as I’m aware and in my opinion even that wouldn’t work, as surely students would rather pay the day 250.00 excess then their years rent.

Not many places will rent to students without a guarantor as they have very little income.

Apparently, this is the most common contract set up for student houses where she is at uni.

Unfortunately, it isn't the case for most university cities. DD's first house rental was directly with the landlord and each guarantor was just responsible for their own DC. The second house share was done through an agent and the tenancy was joint and several, and they wouldn't accept me guarantor for just DD.

There are a few insurance companies now that offer insurance for joint and several tenancies. I took out a policy with Guarantor Insure, and didn't need to make any claims because no-one defaulted, but it gave me peace of mind.

I've only ever guaranteed my own child's rent (which I pay anyway!)

I have been a guarantor for my son. This year I am paying his rent direct so there's no issue.

Next year he will pay it himself, but I will put the money in his account a few days before the direct debit is due. The guarantee specifically says I am only liable for his rent and nobody else's.

Not many places will rent to students without a guarantor as they have very little income and yet back in the day they all did. My parents didn't have to act as a guarantor for me. Maybe it changed when grants disappeared.

The tenancies are joint and several in my son's case, but the guarantee states clearly I am only guaranteeing his share of the rent, nobody else's. I suppose in theory you could mount an argument that because of the joint and several liability his share of the rent is everyone's but I can't see that argument succeeding in court.

Unfortunately that argument does succeed in court.

I took out insurance when dd was in a joint and several house-share with Only My Share. I thought I was going to have to claim and they were very responsive but the landlord didn’t pursue it.

The other company is Guarantor Insure. The two have slightly different terms so read the small print and see which you think will work for you.

The wording is actually very clear.

However, the insurance isn't expensive and is probably worth it for peace of mind, as you say.